Super Mario Bros: Enter Kevin Koopa
by Enterprise F
Summary: After Bowser's latest defeat, his oldest son is tired of sitting on the sidelines as innumerable Koopas die in the ongoing war and decides to end it himself.  Can Mario and Luigi defeat the most dangerous of Bowser's children?
1. Chapter 1

Legal Disclaimer: Super Mario Bros. is copyright Nintendo. I do not own it, Shigeru Miyamoto does. It and all of its characters were created by Shigeru Miyamoto and is the property of Nintendo and their respective creators. This story is not for profit.

Super Mario Bros.:

Enter Kevin Koopa

Chapter 1:

It was a day just like any other for the young Koopa observing the battle on top of the hill away from the action, just as his father would have wanted if he had known that his son was there. The boy, or more accurately, the young adult since he was eighteen years old and had many of the same rights as full adults, stared across the battlefield from a nearby hill where the forces of the Koopa Kingdom and the Mushroom Kingdom battled it out once again. The Koopas were bi-pedal turtle-like creatures with yellow skin, wearing either green or red shells. Their enemies, the Toads, were more similar in appearance to human-like children, only with spotted mushroom-like caps on their heads. The Toads in the Mushroom Kingdom army, like most of their kind, wore a large diaper-like piece of clothing for pants, as well as a blue vest, and large brown shoes. Most of the Toad army was armed with simple spears with only a few being armed with musket-like guns and a couple with cannons.

As it was, the battle was less the Koopas versus the Mushroom Kingdom, and more like the Koopas versus the Mario Brothers and their dinosaur friend, Yoshi. At first, it actually had been the Koopas versus the Mushroom Kingdom, with the Mushroom Kingdom getting ruthlessly hammered by the numerically inferior Koopas. Over half of the army that had come out to meet the Koopas had been annihilated in the first minute of the battle with the Koopas suffering no casualties in return. Even the Goombas, short, brown mushroom-like creatures who were often joked about as being the worst of the worst in terms of the combat effectiveness of cannon fodder soldiers, had come through the fight unscathed. Afterwards, the Toads went into a full retreat. Bowser, in his foolishness, decided to follow, despite the fact that the Toads having lost more than eighty-five percent of their forces. Anyone else would have though of this as a tremendous victory…that is if the Mushroom army had been anything close to a combat trained army and not a collection of what could only be described as farmers and workers given spears to thrust towards the enemy, or on rare occasions guns or cannons. They were nothing really, but today, the slaughter had been all that much more one-sided. Usually the Toads had managed to inflict a few casualties or take out a tank with a lucky shot or two, but not today. And that only served to fuel Bowser's arrogance. The massacre had continued when suddenly, things had changed for the Koopas in a horrible fashion.

Three figures appeared behind the retreating Mushroom Army made their way towards the army. They soon stepped forward as the rest of the Toads continued to flee the battlefield. These weren't Toads simply coming to be slaughtered, though. Two of the figures were human, and the third was a green dinosaur not that much larger than the humans. One of the humans, the shorter, and more rotund one dressed in a red shirt and blue overalls, was riding on the dinosaur in much the same way one would ride a horse or pony. The taller one was walking along side the dinosaur and red and blue-clad human. He wore a green shirt with blue overalls. Without ever having battled them, or even having seen them before in person, the young Koopa knew who they were. The humans were the Super Mario Brothers, and the dinosaur was a member of the dinosaur species Yoshi whose name also happened to be Yoshi. From here on out, the battle had changed as the Toad army cowered behind their three saviors. Even without having fought or witnessed a battle first-hand, the young Koopa prince knew what the outcome of the battle would be. Now it was the Koopas turn to be massacred, and that is exactly what happened.

After a few seconds, one of the red-shelled Koopas, the leader of a squadron of green-shelled Koopas, charged Yoshi. That was a fatal mistake as Yoshi shot his tongue out at the red-shelled Koopa. The tongue stuck to the Koopa and immediately retracted, pulling the doomed Koopa into the maw that was Yoshi's mouth before he could react. The dinosaur immediately spat out a trio of fireballs, each with two black eyes, each far more powerful then even Mario's version of the attack. The fireballs scorched their way through the squadron, setting the other Koopas aflame, those that weren't instantly reduced to ash, and continued towards a Monty Mole Tank. The balls bored through the armor of a Monty Mole Tank setting off the ammunition stores of Bullet Bills and Bob-ombs and igniting the fuel inside. The tank exploded in a magnificent eruption of fire and death incinerating the unfortunate Monty Mole inside. A shockwave flattened the grass and kicked up dirt and stone in the battlefield. The wave expanded more than ten meters in all directions and managed to kill or injure the full compliment of two squads of Magikoopas that had been running alongside the tank when it erupted like a volcano. Shrapnel pelted those who were outside the initial kill range of the explosion.

After the tank exploded, the young Koopa saw the human warrior in red and blue, Mario, holding a lit Bob-omb in his hands. The Koopa had been too focused on the Monty Mole tank's annihilation to see how Mario had come to have a Bob-omb in his hands. But have one he did and, knowing that the fuse would soon go off, had quickly scanned the area to find a good target. It was probably a bit more difficult than it seemed since there were so many tempting targets to choose from, from the red-shelled Koopa Troopas leading squadrons of green-shelled Koopa Troopas, to the duos of Hammer, Fire, Ice, Boomerang, and Sledge Bros. The human found a more than adequate target in the form of a tank being piloted by a Rocky Wrench, a Koopa who was usually an engineer on Bowser's airship fleet, but could be pressed into service as tank drivers or pilots of other craft as well if the need ever arose. He tossed the Bob-omb to the Rocky Wrench and the disabled sentient bomb exploded the instant it struck the Koopa, the same way a rocket with an impact detonator warhead would, killing him and disabling the tank. Luigi, the younger Mario brother who was dressed green and blue jumped onto a Koopa, the force of the jump shooting said Koopa out of the back of his shell. Luigi then kicked it at an oncoming squad of Koopas who were carrying machine guns similar in appearance to old Earth World War Two machine guns, a rare weapon for warriors as common as mere Koopa Troopas. The shell raced towards them and barreled through the squad, bowling over any Koopa, including the previous owner of the shell, unlucky enough to not be able to jump out of the way. Many Koopas fell over themselves and collided with their comrades in order to try to escape the shell, only to be bowled over by the shell because they had nowhere else to go. It would have been comedic, and to the Toads and the Marios it probably was, if it had simply been a movie or a spoof. Unfortunately, this battle was very much the real deal, and a great many Koopas were dying on the field of battle. The Koopa Prince could only watch and grit his teeth. He had just returned from military school and was not yet allowed onto the battlefield, especially against enemies as formidable as the Mario Brothers.

The battle continued in a similar fashion for several minutes. With each minute passing, more and more Koopas and their allies fell to the advance of the three warriors. It was now the young Koopa understood what had been taught to him by his tutor, Kamek, when he was young. The Mushroom Kingdom had no real army. Their "army" consisted of two humans named Mario and Luigi, and their pet dinosaur Yoshi. At first, the young Koopa had scoffed at such a statement, saying that no one or two or three warriors could ever take on an army like the Koopa Kingdom's army and expect to win. Now, the Koopa Prince was beginning to see just how right his tutor had been.

It was fascinating for him. None of the fighting looked like it would reach the hill so he was safe from any harm; not that he would be in any real danger on the battlefield below him. He was, after all, Kevin, the Crown Prince of the Koopa Kingdom and the oldest son of Bowser, King of the Koopas. However, this was the first time he had seen the Super Mario Brothers fight in real life. He had seen videos before and heard the accounts from his parents and siblings, but their accounts did not do the Marios justice. His siblings had always said that the Marios relied on their powers and stars to defeat them in battle. They had also said that they were always caught off guard by the Marios or were sick when they fought them. Kevin had scoffed at that statement, and his thoughts were quickly being borne out as he continued to watch the battle from afar. If there was one thing that his siblings were good at it was distorting the truth. He now saw that the undeniable truth was that Mario was everything the Mushroom Kingdom and the rank and file soldiers of the Koopa Kingdom believed him to be, and then some. This made his father's decree of not allowing him to fight the Mario Brothers all that more absurd. In Kevin's mind, a good leader should use all of the troops at his or her disposal to defeat an enemy, especially one as dangerous and powerful as the Mario Brothers. But Bowser had his own reasons for not sending Kevin up against the Marios, and Kevin suspected that it wasn't because Bowser didn't want to see him get injured or killed fighting the humans.

The truth was that ever since he was ten years old, Kevin had been his father's equal when it came to all out fighting. While Bowser was physically stronger than Kevin, something to be expected considering his father's size and the fact that Kevin was still a child, Kevin had always had more magical power, which he often used to augment his strength and speed in battle, than his father. Add to that was the fact that he was younger, smaller, and more physically fit than his father so he was significantly faster than Bowser, in both running speed and in combat agility. Bowser's only advantages over Kevin were his battling experience, which recently only consisted of defeat after defeat after defeat, and his humongous physical strength, which would do little good if one did not have the speed to support it. And physical strength wasn't as important against the Marios as quickness and having a wide variety of powerful ranged attacks, something Kevin had in spades but that Bowser lacked, aside from his flame breath.

Still, all the Koopa Prince could do was watch the massacre unfold before him. The Koopas were already beginning to retreat when they saw Bowser approaching in a rickety old flying machine, resembling a smiling clown's face, with a single rotor on its underside, which was aptly named "The Koopa Clown Car." The King of the Koopas was a large, burly Koopa with a yellow and tan skin tone, green head and shell, and fiery red hair. His head jutted out of the machine's top hatch as he surveyed the battlefield, searching for the Mario Brothers. He quickly found his quarry, the human dressed in a red long-sleeved shirt with blue overalls, brown hair and a thick black mustache: Mario, Bowser's arch nemesis for more than a decade. In fact, their enmity had actually begun when Bowser was little more than a toddler, and the Marios were still infants. They were being delivered to the Mushroom Kingdom to their "parents" from lands beyond the Mushroom Kingdom by a stork. Some had said that the Marios were actually from another world, possibly even from another dimension, while others said that they were indeed from the Mushroom Kingdom, but that was only a passing curiosity for Kevin. What was important at the moment was the fact that after the Yoshis and Mario had rescued Luigi from Kamek and, along with the babies, had humiliated the then Koopa Prince Bowser in battle, Bowser had always hated the Marios with a passion, even though he had never really made the connection that the human plumbers that he faced this day were the same individuals he had faced as a baby and a little boy.

Yet here they were. Mortal enemies since childhood faced off with each other for the millionth time or so: Kevin had lost count of the many times Mario had humiliated Bowser. And this time, the Koopa King had not even made it to Princess Peach's castle before facing off against his nemesis. Bowser rumbled in excitement. Here, he had the advantage. Even with his Fire Flower's power, Mario had little chance of breaching the armored hull of Bowser's Clown Car. And the Koopa King was eager to show off one of the many upgrades and modifications that he had made to his Clown Car. The first upgrade was a pair of twin-linked Bullet Bill Cannons on the side of his flying monstrosity with flamethrowers mounted on top of the cannons. Two jets of flames erupted from the projectors, their target Mario. Mario, however, was too quick for such a mundane attack. The plumber jumped over the flames and landed a few feet to his right, the flames merely scorching a black path where lush, green grass had once been. Bowser was unconcerned; he had other tricks up his sleeve.

The next trick he used was mounted below the two flamethrowers. "You won't dodge these so easily!" the Koopa King laughed. Bowser pushed a button inside his machine and four Bullet Bills emerged from the two twin-linked cannons mounted on the sides of his lumbering craft. These Bullet Bills were unguided semi-sentient missiles, not the heat-seeking variety that he had used in his jaunts into outer space a couple of months ago, so Mario wouldn't have much trouble dodging the missiles themselves, it was the blast radius of the explosions that he would have to be careful of since the explosions of Bullet Bills were powerful enough to destroy tanks, even the stronger super-tanks used by Bowser's army. Mario, however, had no problem dodging the missiles, or the blasts produced by their explosions. Pieces of dirt and grass rained upon the field as a result of the explosion, with craters two meters deep and several meters in diameter having been gouged into the battlefield by the Bullet Bills' detonations. Mario felt the concussion wave of the explosions and the sting of shrapnel and pieces of clay and dirt striking him, but it was no real bother for him, and did nothing to slow his advance. It was not even enough to strip him of his Fire Flower. He was unstoppable. He charged towards Bowser's Clown Car, deftly weaving his around the subsequent Bullet Bills Bowser fired at him, being careful to avoid their explosions, and came out of the attack unscathed.

But that was not all that Bowser had in store for the annoying plumber. Immediately, two ports appeared on the front side of his Clown Car and opened. Two smaller cannons, probably anti-personnel cannons, emerged from the interior of the craft and angled themselves so they were aimed at the head of the rotund plumber. Mario gaped in disbelief. How Bowser could fit so many weapons onto his Clown Car and have it still fly? The Koopa King, of course, was unwilling to answer Mario's unasked question. However, he was more than eager to give Mario a fatal case of heavy metal poisoning. And he did his utmost to ensure that he did just that. The muzzles of the cannons flashed as Bowser fired a volley of gunfire at Mario. Dirt was kicked up by the impacts of the smaller rounds as the impacts and the rising dirt paths made their way towards Mario. Mario approached in a zigzag pattern, weaving in between the volleys of gunfire, doing his best to make himself a difficult target to hit. And his strategy was working, so far. Bowser was unable to get a direct bead on him and thus, exhausting countless rounds of ammunition in a vain attempt to somehow hit the plumber. But the King of the Koopas was not finished yet.

Bowser chuckled as Mario began to approach. He knew he'd get that upstart plumber this time. He ducked back into his Clown Car and pushed a few buttons on its control console. Just then, the sides of the Clown Car opened and an instant later it started raining Bob-ombs. The semi-sentient bombs fell from the Clown Car and carpeted the area, only leaving the area directly underneath the Clown Car, which was currently occupied by Mario, untouched. Upon falling, they did not move as other Bob-ombs would, nor did they detonate immediately. The Bob-ombs were littered across the battlefield around Mario just like a minefield. Unfortunately, for Mario, the blasts of the Bob-ombs made them more dangerous than any anti-personnel mines used in the Koopa Kingdom or the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser began to laugh as he saw Mario's predicament. "Whatcha gonna do now, Mario?" Bowser mocked. "There's nowhere you can run!"

Mario gave no answer. He eyes narrowed on a stretch of land where there were only a few Bob-ombs and he smiled. Kevin thought that Mario might have given a chuckle. The sentient bombs were arrayed in such a way that Mario could safely wait out their detonations should they explode prematurely. But that wouldn't be the problem. The problem was the Clown Car directly above Mario. Bowser could simply turn off the single rotor that somehow kept the massive machine in the air and let it fall on Mario, crushing him. Mario realized this and he quickly scanned the area for a new safe zone. Spying one a few meters away, he formulated a plan to get himself out of trouble. Wasting no time, Mario picked up one of the Bob-ombs and hurried over to the safe area. Time was short, and if this did not work, Bowser's dreams of killing him once and for all may finally come true. Upon arriving, he waited for Bowser to turn his Clown Car towards him and approach. Bowser slowly turned the Car to face Mario and began to approach the plumber, not realizing, or caring, that Mario had a plan. The Koopa laughed as he targeted the plumber with forward mounted cannons. He opened fire on Mario, but the human did not move a muscle even as little mounds of dirt flew up into his face, indicating that the fire of Bowser's cannons was hitting close to home. Then, with sudden quickness, Mario kicked the Bob-omb into the air. Bowser was incredulous. He couldn't believe that that was all Mario could do. Unfortunately for the Koopa King, Mario did have a plan, and Bowser caught onto it a moment too late. The trajectory of the flying Bob-omb was taking it directly to the front of Bowser's Clown Car. Bowser tried to raise the Clown Car, but it was too little, too late. The Bob-omb impacted with the single rotor underneath that kept the Clown Car aloft and detonated. The armor and the indirect hit of Bob-omb prevented the explosion from engulfing the Clown Car and immediately destroying it, but the explosion did manage to more than destroy the single rotor that kept the Clown Car aloft, as well as blow a hole into the underside of the vehicle.

Kevin watched in horror as the scene unfolded, for he knew what came next. Without its rotor, the Clown Car was nothing but a tricked out massively heavy deadweight, a deadweight that came crashing down to the earth. Bowser roared in rage as the Clown Car fell, Mario stepping back a safe distance away from the scene. The Clown Car hit the ground, sending up a plume of dirt, debris, and unexploded Bob-ombs, which detonated in mid-air as their fuses ran out. Unfortunately for Bowser and his beloved tricked out Clown Car, the unwieldy craft had landed on half a dozen lit Bob-ombs, all of which were programmed to detonate on contact with anything after a certain amount of time. They detonated as Bowser's Clown Car crushed them and explosions engulfed the disabled Clown Car, reducing it to shrapnel. Bowser jumped out of the stricken vehicle an instant before it was reduced to a flaming pile of debris and shrapnel being propelled in all directions, but he could not escape the shockwave of the explosion. The explosion flung Bowser from the crash site of his Clown Car and he landed several feet away from the remains of his Clown Car, tucking his head and limbs into his shell to protect himself from the shrapnel of the explosion. When he landed, the other Bob-ombs exploded, his shell protecting him from any additional shrapnel hits, and he skidded a few feet. However, the explosions of the Bob-ombs still inflicted damage to the Koopa King and he grunted with each blast.

Eventually, Bowser emerged from his shell and turned towards the flaming ruins of his Clown Car. He could barely contain his rage at the scene. His prized Clown Car was now nothing more than flaming wreckage, if that. He let out a roar of rage and anguish at the sight of his fallen vehicle. How could a mere human destroy his prized Clown Car with a single Bob-omb? All that time and work put into tricking it out to make it an unstoppable fighting force fit for a king, wasted! And what made it worse was that Mario had not been using any of his super powers in destroying it, but Bowser's own weapons. Bowser then saw a human figure walking through the flames. It was Mario, but his clothes were different. He now wore red overalls with a white shirt and hat. The Koopa Prince recognized this as Mario's traditional Fire Mario outfit. It would explain why the flames weren't giving Mario any trouble. "You're gonna pay for destroying my Clown Car," Bowser growled. He towered over the human plumber, his fiery orange hair billowing in the breeze.

Mario gave no response. He merely focused his attention on Bowser and grunted. He then began to fish inside of his pockets. Kevin had a bad feeling about what was about to happen. Bowser's rage was now uncontrolled. All he could think about was killing Mario as painfully as possible. To that end, he pulled his head back and after taking a deep audible deep breath, he leaned forward and unleashed a massive gout of fire towards his nemesis. The blast of fire was slow moving so Mario simply jumped out of the way of the fireball. The fireball traveled past Mario and exploded harmlessly several meters behind him. Bowser roared in rage as his fireball missed its mark. He then noticed Mario fishing in his pockets again. Bowser laughed at the sight and yelled over to Mario, "What do you think you're doing now? Don't you know that when you break my Clown Car, I'll break you?"

"Then break me," Mario replied calmly in a low voice that in the current situation was more terrifying than the screech of any nightmarish monster the Koopa King could have imagined. Mario then produced a Metal Cap. Despite being found only in Princess Peach's castle and in the Super Smash Brothers arenas (albeit in a weaker incarnation), it was still very well known among the Koopas. With the Metal Cap, Mario was all but invincible to any attack. While he was too heavy to swim in water, he was currently on land, so that was not a problem. Even worse was that, unlike many of his other power-ups the various caps could be combined with one another, or even with his standard power-ups. That meant that Mario would soon not only be a metallic being immune to anything Bowser's forces could throw at him, he would also be able to launch fireballs at Bowser; not that it would matter. Metal Mario's physical strength exceeded even that of Bowser's, and his speed and agility did not suffer from his heavy weight. Even the Metal Brothers, minions of the Master Hand and Crazy Hand from the Super Smash Brothers competitions, combined, were inferior to the real Mario with a real Metal Cap.

Bowser had no time to lose. He had to prevent Mario from placing the Metal Cap on his head, something that would be difficult since to Mario the Metal Cap was no heavier than a piece of paper. The King of the Koopas charged Mario, unleashing a massive blast of fire at the plumber. Mario danced out of the way of the fire, letting it singe a path to his right. Not wasting any time, Bowser curled his right hand into a fist and charged towards the plumber again. He then swung a right hook that would have decapitated a normal human, and caused significant damage to Mario had it connected. Mario swayed to his right and the fist sailed over his head to his left. Bowser's chance was gone. Mario placed the cap on his head and his body instantly turned completely to metal.

Bowser turned and saw the metallic plumber standing before him. The light of the morning sun gleamed off of the smooth surface of Mario's metal body. No breath came from Mario, for in this form, he did not breathe. Every one of his features: his face, his eyes, even his clothes, became metal, a metal that was unknown to human, Toad, Hylian, or Koopa hands, and was impervious to any known attack, even nuclear weapons. Mario began to walk toward Bowser, his footsteps heavy and audible to the Koopa King. Bowser's eyes widened with fear despite the fact that he towered over the human. Bowser knew that his end was near if Mario was not in a good mood. There was no way he could beat this metal monstrosity.

On the hill, not too far away, Kevin watched as Metal Mario approached his arch nemesis, Bowser. Kevin had heard many stories of how Mario had walked through fire launched by flamethrowers inside the painting worlds in Peach's castle a few years ago created by Bowser and his Magikoopas unscathed. Beneath the black hood of his robe, he began to sweat. The prince knew that Bowser did not want anyone to intervene, least of all his oldest son. He could not afford to look weak in front of his subjects or children. Still, even with the time limit of the Metal Cap's power, Kevin knew that this fight was over. Mario was stronger, faster, and more skilled than Bowser. The fact that the fight would be close quarters merely cemented the battle in Mario's favor. Kevin winced as the battle began.

Bowser, seeing that there was no way out, decided to make his brave, or foolish depending upon how one looked at it, last stand. He roared with anger as he charged the advancing Mario. _Fool_, Mario thought as Bowser swung a right hook at the plumber. Mario let the attack hit him without even trying to block it. The crack of breaking bones was audible to Bowser and he cried out an instant before his body registered that he had shattered his right hand trying to punch Mario. Bowser recoiled from his attack and cradled his stricken hand, gritting his teeth and blinking back tears, still yelling in pain. He then felt his chest cavity cave in as what seemed to be a massive weight impacted his chest, silencing his crying for the time being, forcibly expelling the air from his lungs and sending him flying. That "massive weight", however, was merely Metal Mario's fist striking his chest. Bowser landed on the ground almost ten meters away from his point of origin and bounced another few meters beyond that before rolling to a halt. Mario, however, was already standing next to him. He grabbed the Koopa King by the throat and pulled the monstrous turtle's head to him so the two of them were looking each other in the eyes. Mario's eyes were transformed into metal and had no expression in them, which only magnified the fear the metal plumber saw in Bowser's eyes. The human then delivered another massive punch to the monstrous Koopa's abdomen. The air in Bowser's lungs was violently expelled again as Mario's fist compressed the Koopa's chest cavity, forcing an audible grunt from the Koopa King. Bowser also heard and felt the bones that comprised of his ribcage crack and shatter. Bowser coughed for air as Mario let go of his throat, hoping that he had not suffered any internal injuries. He fell to his knees and coughed. He then looked at the ground to see if blood had issued from his cough. Fortunately, no blood was seen on the ground; his lungs were still intact. He issued silent thanks for small miracles. The Koopa King then fell to the ground and grunted in pain as he fell upon his broken ribcage, his knees no longer able to support him. There, Mario left him, moaning in agony. It was then that the plumber reverted into his human form. While his Fire Mario form was nowhere near as formidable as his Metal Mario form, the magic of the Mushroom Kingdom had made Mario far stronger than any ordinary human could dream of being. And Bowser was in no shape to fight a Real World child at the moment, let alone the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario gazed at the stricken Koopa. Bowser coughed, gasping for air, suppressing the urge to scream. Each breath was agony for the Koopa King. All he was doing now was praying for the battle to end. He was beginning to allow the thought of an all out retreat. Mario rarely, if ever, pursued the Koopas if they had not taken anything special, and the Koopas had not even gotten close to Princess Peach's castle before they had encountered him.

Bowser lifted his head and tried to exhale some flames, but his body was in no shape to perform such a taxing chore at the moment. Mario simply raised his right hand and pointed it towards Bowser. A ball of flame formed in the palm of his hand and grew until it was the size of a softball. Mario held onto the flame, which caused no harm to his gloved hand. "Leave now, Bowser," Mario said in a low voice, as if it were an offer to let him leave uncontested. "You've lost."

"Ne..ver," Bowser barely managed to croak. Even in obvious defeat, Bowser refused to surrender to Mario. However, with his injuries, any resistance may turn fatal, especially since Bowser Jr. would not be able to make a revival brew in time to revive the Koopa King should Bowser die here. Bowser then noticed two more recognizable figures making their way through the decimated lines of his forces: Luigi and Yoshi. Any hope that may have been left for Bowser had now vanished.

Kevin watched from the safety of the hill as he witnessed Luigi and Yoshi approach Mario and Bowser. He quickly scanned the battlefield and saw that, save for the sporadic Koopa that was fleeing, the evac units that were coming to rescue the wounded, and the Koopatrols that were there to guard them, there were no Koopas left alive on the battlefield. He knew that the Mario Brothers and Yoshi would easily be able to defeat the medical personnel and the Koopatrols protecting them had they wished to attack them. That was not standard operating procedure for the Marios, but Bowser was standing right in front of them. This was their chance to end the war between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom once and for all. All the Marios would have to do is kill Bowser, and a new king would take the throne, one who might be more open to peace. And Mario had killed before, seemingly without any hint of regret or remorse.

In the midst of what was happening down on the battlefield, Kevin stood there, wondering if things would have been different if he had participated in the battle. Time slowed down as the young prince watched the Marios and Yoshi approach his father. Was there anything he could do? The answer was yes, but he also knew that his interfering would humiliate his father in the eyes of the military and make his father resentful towards him. And there was also the fact that he might not be able to defeat all three of them, even with his own formidable powers. But he _could_ hold them off until the medevac units had safely managed to take his father onboard and leave the battlefield. He then remembered that his robe had a hood that could cover his face if he needed it to, which he could use to obscure his identity. And since his robe was that of an Elite Magikoopa, he may be able to pass himself off as one if one did not look too closely. At the very least, he could try to convince his father to stop the fight since the Marios would not follow if Bowser ended the battle. With that, the boy disappeared.

Down on the battlefield, Mario still held his hand out towards Bowser, the ball of fire held in his palm. Mario narrowed his eyes at Bowser and said, "Leave now or die, Bowser."

"Go…ahead!" Bowser croaked in defiance. "I'll…still…kill…" Before he could finish, a figure clad in black robes and a hood appeared before him from out of nowhere, his arms outstretched and a magic wand in his right hand. _Right_, Bowser thought though his pain-clouded mind. _And what does this upstart Elite Magikoopa think he's doing_?

"Keep away from him," a low voice growled at the Marios and Yoshi. It sounded unnaturally low, as if its pitch was forced. For a second, Bowser thought that there was something familiar about that voice of the "Elite Magikoopa". He quickly banished the thought, though, much to the relief of Kevin. The "Elite Magikoopa" then pointed his wand at the Marios and Yoshi, a ball of energy forming above the head of the wand. The Marios and Yoshi felt a gust of wind blow into them as the Magikoopa funneled energy into the wand, and the wand struggled to contain it. The Marios and Yoshi quickly realized that this Magikoopa was different from the standard rank and file Magikoopas they were used to fighting. This one was extremely powerful, stronger even than the Elite Magikoopa Kamek, though the Marios probably did not know that at the time. They still felt the awesome power of this "Magikoopa" and realized that this battle could get very ugly, very quickly if they pushed the issue. "Take one more step towards King Bowser and I will kill you where you stand!"

Bowser's eyes widened. This Elite Magikoopa was stronger than he looked. Either that or he was more arrogant, or stupid, than Bowser. However, there was something in his stance and in the power that he radiated. Bowser was beginning to think that this guy might actually be able to make good on his threat and kill the Super Mario Brothers and their dinosaur pest if they forced the issue. And that was not necessarily a good thing, since this guy was supposed to only be an Elite Magikoopa, and he had already been defeated by the Mario Brothers. Realizing that something had to be done before this upstart Magikoopa released his attack and showed him up, he began to ponder what could be done. But, of course, in his current condition, there was only one thing that could be done. He croaked, "All…forces...retreat at…once!"

The "Magikoopa" turned and faced him, the sunglasses preventing Bowser from seeing his eyes and gauging his expression, and said, "Let me deal with the Mario Brothers my liege. The medevac units can heal you while I deal with them. I won't need any help against them. They are weakened since you forced them to use their Metal Cap when they engaged you earlier." Kevin added that in a vain attempt to convince his father to let him battle the plumbers and the dinosaur. "The paramedics will be able to focus on you and once you're healed, you can take over and beat them…"

"No," Bowser half-barked. "I… need… you to… cover my… escape," he managed to croak painfully.

"But my liege," the "Elite Magikoopa" pleaded, "the Marios won't go after you if you retreat now while I fight them. Let me deal with them while you and the others get out of…"

"Those…are…my orders!"

Seeing that Bowser's mind was set, Kevin replied, "Yes, my liege." He then bowed before his father and king. With that, the ball of energy disappeared and the "Elite Magikoopa" fell in next to Bowser, helping him into a medevac airship that had landed behind them while they had been talking. Mario also powered down his own fireball, and reverted to normal, his shirt and overalls now red and blue respectively once more. As Bowser and the others boarded the medevac airship, the Marios focused on the new arrival, wondering who he was, figuring that he was no ordinary Magikoopa or Elite Magikoopa.

After Bowser was safely aboard the medevac, Kevin turned back towards the Mario Brothers. If they had been able to see his eyes through his sunglasses, they would have seen nothing but hatred and rage over the pain that they had inflicted on his father. All Kevin saw in their eyes was a seriousness that mirrored his own. Only instead of defending their parents, they were defending the Mushroom Kingdom and Princess Peach, Mario's friend, possibly even his girlfriend. The Koopa prince began wonder if the two were actually all that different after all. But his musing ended as he began to move towards the airship. The Marios stared at the "Elite Magikoopa" as he took a few steps backward and boarded the ship. They could feel the power radiating from the young Koopa. Everyone near the Marios could. The ramp retreated, and the airship rose from the ground. As the ship rose, Kevin looked outside one of the view ports and searched for the shrinking Mario Brothers. True to form, the Marios and Yoshi did not pursue the Koopas, instead, retreating back to Princess Peach's castle in the distance, helping the wounded get to the Toad medics that were finally arriving on the battlefield, their job done. "Next time Marios," Kevin whispered, inaudibly to anyone around him, "Next time."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

It was an ordinary day in the Koopa Kingdom. Propeller fighters and massive wooden and metal airships soared past the large castle that was the center of the kingdom. A perimeter of four tall watchtowers, almost half the height of the main tower in the center of the castle, was the sign that one was inside the massive grounds of this castle. The castle looked quite ordinary for Koopa standards, aside from its large size, with its grey bricks and numerous towers and battlements. It was the main tower that distinguished the castle from all others. For the central tower was topped with the likeness of a green spiked shell. The rest of the tower below the shell was made of metal and painted silver. It was also protected by several cannons and Bullet Bill and Missile Bill launchers. In addition, a single laser cannon could emerge from the top of the shell and was powerful enough to destroy a small castle with a single shot. The interior of the tower was also under heavy patrol from mighty armored Koopatrols that were armed with machine guns, as well as Elite Magikoopas. The tower was the telltale sign that this castle belonged to the infamous King of the Koopas, Bowser. And while there was little activity going on outside, aside from the routine patrols of propeller and jet fighters with a couple airships on hand should any foolish plumbers try to invade, the castle was bustling on the inside. It was there that Prince Kevin was marching through the gray brick corridors of the castle, heading towards the main hall. The walls were lined with the images of famous Koopa kings, princes, and other nobility, each of which looked regal in the pictures. Even Bowser looked regal in his picture at the end of the hall, near the door that would lead to the main hall. Kevin doubted that all of these Koopas looked nearly as magnificent in real life, especially considering how his father looked defeat after defeat at the hands of Mario.

Kevin was going to see his father on the pretense that he had just returned from military school, graduating at the top of his class, and wanting to boast about his achievement, but the real reason that he had come to his father's current castle residence was that he was eager to see how Bowser was doing after his shellacking at the hands of Mario, and to make a request of his father. He did not even notice the luxurious red carpet leading towards the main hall. He had seen it, and walked on it, so many times when he was younger that it held no interest for him the way it did for almost every other visitor that came to see his father. Nor did he notice the two Koopatrols dressed in their metal gray armor holding machine guns, an exceedingly rare weapon in the Koopa Kingdom, across their chests guarding the door at the end of the corridor. Things like these were nothing new to the Koopa Prince. This was not the only castle of Bowser's that Kevin had resided, though this was his favorite. It was one of the few castles that had not been destroyed by Mario in the seemingly endless war between the Marios and the Koopa Kingdom. He approached the golden doors that barred the entrance to the main hall with no apprehension, as many other individuals would, for he was the Crown Prince of the Koopas, at least he thought he was. He could never be sure with Bowser. His father was very fickle, and would likely be in a bad mood given how horrible his humiliation at the hands of Mario had been. The doors gave a strained creak as he pushed them open with ease.

Doctors, Magikoopa healers, and nurses were tending to Bowser, who was sitting on, or rather slumping in, a large, golden throne. The nurses were dressed in white aprons with a red cross over in the middle. It was not the type of dress that Kevin would want his nurses to wear. "Yeow," Bowser cried as one of the Magikoopa doctors moved his hand over Bowser's ribcage. Bowser reacted by firing a blast of fire towards the Magikoopa doctor, who deftly jumped out of the way of the stream of fire, which only caused Bowser to yelp again.

"Be careful my lord," one of the nurses, a female Koopa, scolded him, "Your ribcage is shattered and it will take time to heal the damage, even with magic."

"I don't care, just heal me," Bowser roared.

"Yes my lord," the nurse responded submissively, bowing before him.

It was then that Bowser noticed his oldest son dressed in black robes and hood standing before him. "Kevin," he boomed. "It's good that you finally made it!" Bowser seemed eager to see his oldest son, which caused hope to flare in the prince's heart. Kevin approached Bowser's throne and genuflected before his father.

The doctors and nurses looked at the young Koopa nervously. While Kevin wasn't infamous for his temper, like his father was, he was well known for the awesome amount of power that he wielded, as well as his skills in wielding said power. Tales of his exploits reached even the outlier towns. One of the reasons why there were so few rebellions in the Koopa Kingdom, despite the fact that Bowser was running the kingdom into the ground in his endless attempt to kidnap Princess Peach and force her to marry him, and the losses that resulted when Mario and/or Luigi intervened, was because Kevin crushed them all before they could really get going, many of them he crushed unaided in any way. Those that did manage to get going were still easily destroyed by the prince's might. The few times he had faced Toad or even sometimes Hylian forces in battle, Kevin had always emerged the victor with his forces suffering few, if any, casualties. While no one would dare openly say this, many believed that Kevin was the only Koopa that may eventually be able to match the might of the mighty Bowser the Great from a thousand years ago, and was the only one who had a chance of taking down the Super Mario Brothers at the moment. Many were surprised that Bowser had yet to release Kevin upon the Mario Brothers, since his existence was no secret to the Mushroom Kingdom. In fact, the Toads and other citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom held Kevin in about as much fear as they held the Mario Brothers in awe and respect. Even though they practically worshipped the Mario Brothers, they were not certain who would emerge the victor if the brothers had to face off against the Koopa Prince.

"It is good to see you as well, Father," Kevin said to his father in greeting.

"Rise, my son. You don't need to bow before me at the moment," Bowser said, his eyes beaming down towards his son. "Besides, I don't look so regal right now," the Koopa King added, looking down over his abdomen and hand, trying to add some humor to the atmosphere.

Kevin rose and lifted his eyes until they met with his father's. He quickly noticed the bandages covering the large Koopa's abdomen and hand. "I heard about your injuries," Kevin said quietly, motioning his eyes towards Bowser's bandaged body. "How bad was it and how long will it be before you heal?"

"I…suffered a shattered hand and broken ribcage," Bowser said with difficulty as if admitting how badly he was hurt would make him seem weak, and give Kevin reason to take the throne from him. Bowser never admitted this to anyone, but he knew that Kevin was highly regarded by the masses, and that the boy was powerful in the extreme, possibly stronger than _him_. His greatest fear was that Kevin would make a bid for the throne before he was ready to relinquish it. While nothing could be further from Kevin's mind, with the right support, Kevin would be successful in a coup attempt. Even without the troops directly behind him, he may still have had the raw power to pull off a coup, maybe even a bloodless coup. And many Koopa kings had come to power due to coups, most notably Bowser's ancestor Bowser the Great, to whom Kevin had constantly been compared to in recent years. After a few moments, Bowser continued, "It will be at least a week before my hand is successfully repaired, even with the assistance of magic. The ribcage will heal much sooner with magical assistance."

Kevin gave a nod. "Good, at least you won't have to get a prosthetic," he said with some empathy towards his father, though no one in the room would have picked up on it. After a moment, Kevin then began, "There is another reason why I came to see you." He paused for a moment. "I have a request to ask of you, Father."

Bowser gave a curious glance to his son. "What do you want from me?" Bowser asked.

Kevin met his father's eyes and he stated plainly, "I wish to fight and kill the Mario Brothers."

"Absolutely not!" Bowser roared. "I, and those I order to fight Mario, am the only ones who are allowed kill him. I don't need anyone's help in beating them anyway."

Kevin was tempted to say, _your shattered hand and ribcage indicate otherwise_, but he kept the thought to himself. What he said, instead, was, "You might not need help, but it would still be prudent to have someone who Mario has not encountered yet to be the next one to fight him."

"And you want that 'someone' to be you, right?" his father scoffed.

"Yes," Kevin said curtly, nodding. "I am the perfect choice. I have a talent in a form of magic that Mario has yet to encounter in a Koopa, and is different enough from the Shadow Queen's rift magic that he would not recognize it until it was too late."

"No, you're not killing Mario!"

"Why can't I fight Mario?" Kevin asked, his voice showing his displeasure.

"Because you are the Koopa Prince!"

"You have seven other sons, plus one daughter, all of whom have faced Mario—"

"—and lost to him numerous times."

"I haven't," Kevin said in a confident voice that caused Bowser to actually become afraid. Looking into Kevin's eyes, he saw the bloodlust in Kevin's eyes towards the Mario Brothers. It didn't help that Kevin was famous throughout the Koopa Kingdom and especially in the military. He had a lot of friends and admirers, especially among the military leadership. This scared Bowser, and he thought that if Kevin did indeed kill the Mario Brothers, the Koopa Kingdom would beg him to be their king, and even if Kevin did not realize it yet, he had the power to overthrow Bowser. And that was something that terrified the Koopa King to no end. And nothing Kevin would ever be able to say would assuage Bowser of his fear of the possibility of his oldest son being able to take power should he wish to, even though nothing was further from Kevin's mind. His reverie was broken when Kevin spoke again, "Father, no one else has been able to defeat the Mario Brothers. It will take time for you to heal from your injuries, and that time will allow the Marios to recuperate from their last battle."

"Like they need to recuperate from their light workout," Bowser muttered under his breath, but somehow loudly enough for the teenage Koopa standing before him to hear. Bowser noticed his son incline his head and his heart skipped a beat. He waited for Kevin to make a remark. After a few moments, when Kevin gave no remark, Bowser asked, "Is there anything else you came to see me about?"

Kevin shook his head. "No, Father. I only wait to hear what your orders are for me."

Bowser smiled and rose from his throne, despite the protests from his caretakers. "Since you have graduated at the top of your class, I have no orders for you at the moment. You are free to indulge your pleasures for a time here until I send for you. However, you are not allowed to fight and kill the Mario Brothers. However, I may give you some recording of my more recent fights with them so you can help me devise a strategy that will be effective in defeating them."

"Yes, Father," the young Koopa said, bowing to the king of the mighty Koopa Kingdom.

"You are dismissed."

Kevin bowed once more and then turned to depart the main hall. Bowser sat back down upon the large golden throne and resumed letting the doctors tend to his needs.

Kevin exited the main hall grimacing as he left. Why? Why would his father not let him take on the Mario Brothers? He was one of the few high-ranking Koopas that the Mario Brothers had yet to encounter in battle. The doors clanked shut behind the prince and he was left alone with his thoughts as he made his way down the corridor. As he walked, he began to consider all possible scenarios given the recent defeat of his father at the hands of Mario. After a few moments of contemplation, he began to worry. In Bowser's most recent kidnapping of Princess Peach, he used numerous airships in his attack…some of which had been captured by the Mario Brothers and a group known as the Toad Brigade. While he dismissed the Toad Brigade as nothing more than wannabes, he knew that the Marios were a definite threat. Even worse, though, was the fact that the recent capture of said airships, as well as the capture of four small Clown Cars that have since been rechristened as Hero Cars, two of which were currently in the possession of Mario and Luigi. These could be used in attacks and with Mario and Luigi's ability to use superpowers, they would be formidable opponents if they had a steady means of flight that could also allow them to use ranged attacks.

Soon, Kevin began to get a little worried. The recent successes could embolden the Mushroom Kingdom in its war against the Koopa Kingdom. One thing that had been constant in the war so far was the fact that even with the help of the Mario Brothers, the Mushroom Kingdom had never taken an aggressive stance against the Koopa Kingdom. They had always been reactionary instead of proactive. He began to worry that, with a force of allies behind Mario, Yoshi, and a few Hero Cars, the Mushroom Kingdom could put together an assault force that could threaten the lands of the Koopa Kingdom. He then shrugged. He was probably over-thinking things. As long as Peach was in charge, he sincerely doubted that the Koopa Kingdom would ever be attacked by the Mushroom Kingdom's military forces, even with the Marios, or rather, especially with the Marios as their heroes. The Mario Brothers merely fought when Peach, or the rest of the kingdom, or their friends, were in danger. Despite the extreme toll that Mario had taken on the Koopa Troop, the fact was that Mario never aggressively pursued the Koopas after he had rescued Peach and defeated Bowser. He was merely content to let them flee, as was demonstrated when he did nothing to prevent Bowser from leaving the battlefield after they had defeated him mere hours ago. Still, Kevin did not like the prospect of leaving the Mario Brothers alone right now. No matter how pure of heart they were, it would only be so long before they rightly decided that the only way to end the Koopa threat once and for all would be to launch an invasion of the Koopa Kingdom and attempt to take down Bowser, if not actually take him out. If, or rather _when_, that time came, Kevin vowed that he would be there to protect the Koopa Kingdom and the rest of the Koopa Troop with his life. He merely hoped that it would not come down to that and that the Marios would be dealt with by then.

As the prince walked further down the hallway, towards the outer courtyard of the castle, he heard a loud racket sounding from one of the rooms to his right. He knew that his siblings would undoubtedly call the noise emanating from that room, "music". Just as he was walking by, the door opened and a female Koopa walked out. She had a pink shell with short spikes and her skin was yellow and tan. She also wore pink lipstick, along with a pink bow with white polka dots on her head, as well as a long, red, beaded necklace, and large golden bracelets. She was without her traditional magic scepter that she oftentimes entered into battle with, but was holding a microphone in her right hand. Immediately upon emerging from the room, she immediately laid eyes on the Koopa in the black robes. She instantly recognized him as her oldest brother and gasped. "Kevin, you're back," she almost stammered in a surprised voice.

Kevin turned and looked into her eyes and beamed. "Yes, I am, Wendy; for a time. I'm going to remain here until Father has a new mission for me."

A grin then twisted Wendy's lips. She rushed over to him and grabbed his wrist, pulling the now bewildered Koopa Prince into the room. "Then you just have to join us for a jam session!" she exclaimed as she dragged him into the room and shut the door before he realized her plan.

Kevin tried to say, "I'm sorry, but I have other plans," but he was helpless to resist the tug of his younger sister as she pulled him into the room. Inside the room, the rest of his younger siblings were already playing a variety of musical instruments, making something that someone, somewhere might call music. Kevin certainly did not call the noise music, though.

"Hey everyone," Wendy called, "look who I managed to drag in here!"

The others mercifully stopped playing and singing for a bit to look over to her and saw the black robed figure that Wendy had dragged into the band room. "Well, who is it?" called Ludwig von Koopa, the next oldest Koopaling, after Kevin. He had a chubby frame, though that belied Ludwig's true strength, and also had a blue shell with orange rings around the short spikes protruding from said shell, and large, wild blue hair. He also has a green head with a short, beaver-like tooth extending from the upper center part of his snout. He, like the other male Koopalings, minus Kevin, also wore black metal spiked cuffs. As with the others, he did not have his magic scepter, but instead, a conductor's wand. He, evidently, was the director of the band. Ludwig continued to look over at Kevin, not recognizing his older brother beneath the sunglasses and black hood and robes.

"Oh, come on," Wendy complained, "take off those robes and join us!" She then jerked off his hood and took off his sunglasses so that everyone would see that their oldest brother had come back.

"Kevin!" everyone exclaimed with shock, rather than happiness, which saddened the prince a bit. The two Koopatrols that were guarding the younger Koopas and the other technicians, sound checkers, and even Kamek, who as assisting the Koopatrols in their guard duty, stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the forlorn looking Koopa Prince. They stared at the prince as he tried to back away and exit the room, only to be directed towards the others by Despite his age, he was no larger than Ludwig, though he seemed to be much more regal in stature. He also took to resembling a Magikoopa far more so than his own siblings, though like them, Kevin had a shell with short spikes and a yellow and tan, though unlike his siblings, he had a very dark gray to black head and short, black hair. Besides his robes, he did not wear much in the way of adornments. He did, however, carry a variety of weapons from magical daggers that he, himself, had crafted, to magic wands which assisted in the casting of his spells and provided good long ranged attacks as well. He was quite athletic in appearance, far more so than his other siblings. It was also one of the reasons why Wendy wanted him to join them. She, as well as the rest of the Koopa Kingdom, viewed Kevin as the most handsome of the Koopalings, and thus, she wanted him to be a part of their new band in order to get more people to attend their concerts.

Kevin, however, did not have any desire to join their band and he did his best to think of a way to leave without revealing just how far along he was in his Rift Magic training. He first attempted to teleport out of the room, but Kamek must have erected an anti-teleportation spell in the room, for his attempt ended in failure. Kamek looked over at his pupil and grinned, almost as if he had decided to turn this incident into a spur of the moment test for the king's eldest son. Not long after, Morton Koopa Jr., the third youngest of Bowser's offspring, with only Larry and Bowser Jr. being younger, came over to assist his older sister in bringing Kevin onto the stage. Despite his youth, he was among the largest of the Koopalings, rivaling Ludwig in height and breadth. Unlike the other Koopalings, he had dark brown skin, a white head with three thin black hairs, and a star mark on the left side of his face, centered around his left eye. He also had four large fangs in the upper corners of the upper part of his jaw. He also sported a black shell with a white encasing and, short spikes surrounded by white rings. Kevin had since recovered from his surprise at being dragged into the room and, as such, was holding fast against the pushing and pulling of both Wendy and Morton.

Soon, they were joined by the youngest of Bowser's offspring, Bowser Jr., himself. Bowser Jr. looked very much like a younger version of Bowser. He had a yellow and tan skin complexion, a green shell with white encasing with short spikes surrounded by orange rings, and fiery orange hair tied into a top-ponytail. Unlike his siblings, though, he wore a white bib with fangs drawn onto it. He sometimes wore it like a mask, though he was merely letting it hang around his neck at the moment. As he arrived at his older brother, who was still struggling against Wendy and Morton, he asked, "Hey, Kev, whatcha doin' back here so quickly?"

"Trying not to be drafted into Ludwig and Wendy's band," Kevin answered, with a note of only partial mock-desperation in his voice.

"Why's that?" the Bowser's youngest child asked. "Don'tcha wanna spend some time with us?"

"Yes," Kevin replied, "but I don't want to have to be part of a band. Besides, I haven't practiced with my trumpet for quite a while."

"You wouldn't be playin' trumpet!" Lemmy called over. Despite being the third oldest, after only Kevin and Ludwig, he was the smallest of the Koopalings. In addition, his head was oval shaped and disproportionately large compared to the rest of his body. In addition, he looked to be cross-eyed. Like most of his siblings, Lemmy had the same yellow and tan skin tone that they had. He also had a green head with a pair of orange bars on the left side of his head. He also had a multi-colored mohawk that went from yellow, pink, blue, yellow, pink, blue, and ended in a relatively long ponytail that started out a bright yellow but faded to orange close to the tip. He also wore an orange shell with white encasing that had short spikes surrounded by yellow rings. Kevin looked over and saw that Lemmy was without his standard yellow ball with orange stars. Lemmy had always been more interested in the circus and performing rather than committing evil, like his father, something that Kevin was eternally grateful for. The Koopaling then smiled knowingly at his older brother.

"Then what would I be playing?" Kevin asked, in an almost defeated tone.

"You'd be singin' alongside Wendy and me," came the response from Roy. Roy was unlike most of the others in that he had a pink head and sunglasses. He also had a purple shell with short spikes surrounded by hot pink rings.

"No," Kevin replied sternly, breaking the grasp of both Wendy and Morton. He then backed away a few feet.

"Why not?" Roy and Wendy both asked. Wendy was doing her best to look as cute and beautiful as possible in order to convince her older brother to join her. It was not working.

"Because I hate singing almost as much as I hate the Mario Brothers," Kevin responded, a little more harshly than he had intended. "Besides, I have more important matters that need my attention at the moment," he added in a more even tone.

"Such as?" Ludwig asked.

"Such as defeating the Mario Brothers."

The others scoffed. "Beat the Marios?" Larry, the second youngest of the Koopalings, after Bowser Jr. laughed. "You may as well be taking on the Golden Goddesses of Hyrule. At least they're a darn sight prettier than the Marios." Larry, like most of his siblings, he had yellow and tan skin and a green head. However, he had a small, blue star on the side of his head as well. He also sported spiky combed back blue hair and a light blue shell.

"The Marios have to be stopped," Kevin insisted.

"We know," the others agreed in a melancholy tone. He also noted that they sounded defeated when speaking about the Marios.

"Yeah," Iggy reiterated. Iggy was the middle child of the Koopalings. He had the same yellow and tan skin tone of his siblings, along with the green head. He also had four fangs jutting down from the upper corners of his mouth, like Morton. What differentiated him from the others, though, were his glasses, and his plant-like stalk of lime-green hair with darker green tips at the end. He also wore a light green shell with short spikes, surrounded by purple rings. "I wouldn't worry about it too much," he said, trying to assure Kevin that the Marios could wait and that jamming with them was a more worthy use of his time. "It won't be long before Dad comes up with another plan to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom and beat the Marios. And this time, it'll work. I'm sure of it. So why not just jam with us while you're here?"

"Because you didn't see his latest battle against Mario," came Kevin's response, which prompted Kamek to raise his eyebrows, for Kevin sounded almost as if he were recounting a nightmare. Kevin's hands clenched into a fist and he gritted his teeth "It wasn't even a fight! Mario slaughtered Father with contemptuous ease! And I could do nothing but watch since Father did not call for any help."

Kamek's face was aghast. Kevin had witnessed Bowser's last fight with Mario. Even after the pounding that his father had sustained, he still wanted to go and face off against Mario, and not just Mario, but the Mario Brothers: both Mario and Luigi. He had to stop the Koopa Prince from making the biggest mistake in his life. With that, he then said, "I know. Which is why you must not rush off and fight Mario. Remain here and enjoy your free time for a bit. Take a little time to look around and take in what you are fighting for."

Kevin looked over at his mentor and relaxed a bit. Kamek came over to him and said, "Your siblings are right. Take some time to relax a bit. Mario won't come and attack us since we don't have Princess Peach at the moment. Once your father is healed, he'll undoubtedly plan another kidnapping attempt on Princess Peach Toadstool, and then you might just get your chance to fight the Marios."

Kevin sighed and said, "I guess," but he was not convinced, though he did his best to hide this fact from Kamek and the others.

The others did not pay any attention to Kevin's body language and Ludwig went over and grabbed his arm, saying, "Come on, I need a good male singer to compliment Wendy. You'll love it. This'll be all rock'n'roll!"

"I hate rock and roll," Kevin said plainly. He pulled his arm away from Ludwig, breaking the second oldest Koopaling's grip and told him, "Look, I thank you for the offer, but I do have my studies to attend to. Just because I'm out of the academy doesn't mean that I can simply relax. Besides, Father will be healed soon. I need to be ready when he calls."

Ludwig sighed and the others gave an audible moan. "Maybe I can join you all for dinner later?" he offered. "I could cook if you want."

"Maybe," Wendy pouted, crossing her arms. "We'll let you know," she continued snidely.

Kevin gave a melancholy sigh and turned to leave. As he left, Kamek called to him, saying, "Kevin, remember your father's orders. Don't kill the Mario Brothers. He's already suffered a terrible beating facing one of them. Your father loves you. He doesn't want to risk losing you as well."

The young prince turned and, bowing, replied, "I understand, Master."

He then gave a resigned smile and continued on his way. As soon as the door closed behind him, he could hear the noise start again. This time, he heard the voices of Wendy and Roy muting out the noise, though they seemed to sound even worse. Maybe it was merely the fact that he did not like singing. He shook off the thought and continued on his way.

As he was making his way into the outer courtyard, a barren, rocky section of the castle, he could not help but think about what Kamek had said. He then thought back to the large number of dead Koopas that had littered the battlefield as well as the bruised and beaten form of his father. He then asked the specters of his father and Kamek, "But how many more have to die before you get lucky and one of your plans manages to kill the Marios?" _That's if you don't get killed first_, he then thought darkly. For a time, he had no idea what to do. He knew that he could not go against his father's orders and kill the Mario Brothers. Despite the threat that they posed, he had too much respect for his father to just disobey him at the drop of a hat. Just then, a thought came to him. His father had said nothing about merely _capturing_ the Marios. His mind then began to race. He knew that capturing a group like the Marios was even more dangerous than killing them, but it was the only way he could neutralize the threat posed by the Marios while still obeying the letter of his father's order, if not its spirit. However, in order to make sure that he would have the best chance of success, he would need to brush up on the Mario Brothers a little bit more. To that end, he proceeded to make his way over to the residential tower of the castle. He was certain that the movers close to finished, if not already finished, unloading his few belongings. There, he would begin studying the Marios, as well as brushing up on some of his more advanced magical abilities as well. He needed to be in tiptop shape for when he finally went to capture the Super Mario Brothers.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Kevin made his way over to the residential tower as quickly as possible. He ignored the numerous Koopatrols and Magikoopa guards that stopped to salute him as he ran by. He rushed through the large double doors that were the entrance to the residential tower, nearly bowling over two Hammer Bros. that were talking to each other about their latest battle with the Mario Brothers. They had been veterans of several campaigns against the Marios, and were some of the longest-lived Koopas that had encountered the heroic plumber. He paid them little heed, though; merely making sure that he did not knock them over. He charged up the dark, spiraling staircase until he reached the top of the tower. There, he reached his room.

The last of his belongings were being unloaded by the movers, a duo of Sumo Brothers. The two members of a subset of Hammer Bros. had a yellow and tan skin tone with a green shell, and a single spike on their head. In battle, they could stomp on the ground, calling down a lightning bolt that would strike the ground and create a sea of fire. They had been a significant hurdle for the Mario Brothers to overcome in Dinosaur Land; the first, and only, time they had been deployed against the Mario Brothers. As Kevin approached, they stopped and noticed the prince arriving and almost dropped the sofa that they had been carrying into the room. "Prince Kevin, you're back," the stammered. Despite their formidable power, they were still highly respectful of the young prince, as they were of all members of the Koopa Royal Family. "We were not expecting you back here so soon."

"Don't worry about it," Kevin said reassuringly, giving them a kind smile. "In fact, I'll finish the unloading myself. I have some time to kill and this will be good training."

The Sumo Bros. were unsure of what to make of Kevin's statement, so they merely stood there. Kevin's expression flattened when he saw them freeze. "I insist," he told them, a little more forcefully. "You guys have done great work. Take some time to rest up. I'll take the check when it's ready."

The Sumo Bros. soon got the hint that Kevin wanted some time alone in his room, or study, as he was going to convert it into, and they merely went inside to set down the sofa. They then exited the room and prepared the check. When they handed it to Kevin, he read that the move would cost approximately one hundred gold coins, not a bad price considering that they moved the Koopa Prince's belongings half way across the kingdom. Kevin decided to give them a good tip and paid them one hundred and fifty gold coins. When the Sumo Bros. saw the offer, they told him, "Sire, the price was only one hundred gold coins."

"I know," Kevin responded. "You guys did good work here, and I reward such things. Take the money," he insisted kindly.

The Sumo Bros. smiled as they accepted their payment and the generous tip offered by the Koopa Prince. They then left the Koopa Prince to his own thoughts in his room. However, the sound of whistling could be heard as the Sumo Bros. made their way down the corridor to another sector of the castle. As they walked, they could scarcely believe that Kevin had been as nice as he had been to them. Normally, had Bowser or any of his other children come across the movers, they would have walked all over them and complained about how not all of their stuff had been unpacked and put away. Kevin was the exact opposite of the rest of his family. And that was one of the reasons he had been so popular with the masses.

As the prince entered his room, he stopped and looked around at the crates and furniture that was scattered all around his room. He pulled out his scepter and pointed it at one of the crates. A blue beam of energy emerged from the wand and struck the crate, a field of energy now surrounding the wooden crate. The top of the crate then came off of the rest and flew into the air, a blue field of energy surrounding it. Kevin set the top aside and then fired a second stream of energy from his wand at the crate. Pieces of a disassembled table immediately flew out of the box, along with one of his most treasured possessions: a framed photograph of himself along with the rest of his family. Using a simple spell, he assembled the small, round table and set it in the middle of his room. He then levitated the photograph onto the table until it was sitting in the center of the table. While that was not the final destination of the photo, it would suffice for the moment until he got everything else unpacked.

He then turned his attention to the sofa that the Sumo Bros. had been carrying in. With the same spell he used on the crate, he moved the sofa into a small study area where he set it up against the wall, facing a high-definition television mounted on a gray table that was set near another wall. To the left of the television was a work desk with a computer and a small bookcase that was loaded with books on military tactics, technology, and manuals on operating his computer, as well as fixing it should something go wrong. Once that was finished, he made his way back into the main living room and proceeded to finish unpacking the rest of his belongings. He first finished setting up the chairs and the dinner table. While his room was not nearly as large and opulent as those of his siblings or his father, he did set aside a dining room so that he could have the rest of his family join him for dinner should the occasion ever arise. Once the dining room and its table were set, he went over to the kitchen, where a smaller table was set near a much smaller HDTV. He checked the oven, stove, and microwave and found that everything there was in order. Then, he went into his bedroom. In his bedroom, he found a full size bed in the center of the room against the wall. Looking across the bed, he found a nightstand with a radio, as well as a cup holder. Across from the bed was a bookcase that was sparsely filled with books, mostly on the basics of magic. Once he was certain that everything was in order in his bedroom, he went down the short corridor and into the room where he would most likely be spending most of his time awake, the study.

His study was full of bookcases and housed other objects, like magic scepters and his own personal broomstick that he had gotten at the age of ten when he took his first official magic lessons under Kamek. Each of the bookcases was overflowing with books and scrolls that detailed both basic magical spells as well as more complex spells and types of magic, such as Rift Magic, a form of magic that was highly difficult to perform safely. Kevin was one of the few practitioners of Rift Magic that had been able to ascend to the rank of Master, and all of this before his eighteenth birthday. Thinking of his birthday, which had been only two days ago, he looked over onto a desk near the sole small window that offered ventilation for the room and saw an envelope on the desk. He went over to the desk and he picked up the envelope and opened it. He pulled out the card and found that it was a birthday card from his cousin, Karly Koopa. He opened it and read:

_Dear Kevin,_

_Happy eighteenth birthday Kevin! I hear you're finally going home to see your dad, Uncle Bowser. I hope you get this card soon. Tell your dad I love him and I hope to see him not too long from now. I also hope to see you, too, cuz. Hee, hee, hee. Anyway, I hope everything's going okay with you and I look forward to seeing you again soon._

_ Love, _

_ Karly._

Kevin smiled as he read the card. Karly was one of the few Koopas in the kingdom that actually understood him. He could talk with her freely and she would actually listen to his concerns, rather than just laugh them off the way his own siblings would. In fact, she was more of a sibling to him than his true blood siblings. He made a note to write a thank you letter to Karly at the first opportunity. However, he had even more important work to do at the moment, seeing that everything was in order in his study as well. He needed to get to work researching the Mario Brothers; for if he were to have any hope of defeating them, he would need to know everything he could about them.

The prince then proceeded to go back to his makeshift living room that doubled as a small study and went to work on his plan. Before he formulated any real plans, though, he needed to know everything he could about the Mario Brothers. He began by researching on the Koopa Net everything that was known about the two humans. What he found surprised him, for there seemed to be a great deal of conflicting information. This was especially true regarding their origins. Some sources indicated that he was from outside the Mushroom Kingdom, even outside of the world of Hylia as well, being from a world called Earth. Other sources, however, stated that he was delivered to his parents in the Mushroom Kingdom by stork. This story, however, had come from the Yoshis, who were very child-like in their behavior, and as such, he did not put as much stock in that story as he did in the other sources, especially since he knew that humans did not reproduce by having a stork deliver the baby to the parents. Not only that, but the sources could not even get the ages of the Marios straight, either. Some said that the Mario Brothers were twins, while others said that Mario was the older brother, and Luigi the younger. Kevin believed the latter to be true because one of the sources of Mario being the older brother was Luigi, himself, who had been known to call Mario, "big bro," on occasion. This would especially be true if, as Kevin seemed to believe, that the Marios were kidnapped when they were infants and taken to the Mushroom Kingdom together. It would be easy to confuse the Yoshis into having them believe that the Marios were twins and could explain why that myth had been perpetuated. While Kevin found the backstory of the Mario Brothers interesting, his primary focus was on more recent events. Still, he made note to study more of their history should his current plan fail. He decided that the next thing he would have to do would be to watch videos of Mario and Luigi's activities. He then left his study and proceeded to make his way out of his quarters.

He rushed down the corridor to another tower, passing routine hall patrols that consisted of Koopatrols and even a team of Boomerang Bros. As he passed, the Boomerang Bros. saluted him and after he was gone, they continued on their patrols. The Koopa Prince ignored their salutes as he rushed by them. He needed to get to the archive tower as quickly as possible. He was certain that the archive tower would have recordings of all of the Mario Brothers' more recent battles.

After a few minutes, Kevin arrived at the Hall of Archives, located beneath the main castle, and entered the large room. The Hall of Archives was a dark, dreary gray room with lines of shelves that stored all sorts of books, videotapes, audiotapes, CDs, and even DVD recordings. They were all divided into sections based upon the century, and some sections were subdivided into smaller sections based not only on year, but also on important individuals. Kevin knew that what he was searching for would be found somewhere deep inside the hall, a place that would be inaccessible to all but the highest-ranking personnel. As Kevin approached the more recent, and restricted, area, he was met by two Dark Koopatrols. These Koopatrols did not just wear thick gray armor and have spiked shells; they also had red eyes and were incredibly strong in and of themselves. They were even stronger than Elite Koopatrols. These Dark Koopatrols were also armed with machine guns and had extra pistols holstered at their hips. Despite the fact that they instantly recognized Kevin, they still held up their weapons and commanded, "Halt. This area is restricted. You must present proper identification before we allow you to pass."

Kevin then pulled out a card with his picture and personal information on it. The Dark Koopatrol on the right took the card and the two of them examined it, just to make certain that it was not a forgery. Once they were convinced that it was real, they handed the card back and told him, "Identification confirmed. You may pass, sire." The two Dark Koopatrols then stepped aside and allowed the Koopa Prince to pass uncontested.

Upon entering the restricted sector, Kevin searched the shelves for everything he could find on the Super Mario Brothers. Several books and videotape and DVD recordings caught the prince's eye. One of them was a recording of Bowser's one true victory over Mario after he had first gotten the Star Rod and had attacked Princess Peach's castle, taking it high into the sky. Another video had recordings of Bowser's more recent battles against Mario, one where he had grown huge and had chased the plumber through the lower levels of his castle until he had finally been flushed down the drain, and another where he had used the power of the stars to grow huge and fight Mario in space. Upon securing the much-needed materials, he headed over to the nearest work desk that had a working computer, television, and VCR. As he was getting himself situated, a couple patrol teams walked by. Kevin glanced back and saw the patrols walk by. They had consisted of a pair Ice Bros., and two Spikes. Kevin had heard that his father had always had the Mario section of the archives heavily patrolled, but he had never actually seen the patrols until now. This got Kevin even more excited, for he suspected that if his father had set up such extreme precautions against anyone getting a hold of the information that he had gained on the Mario Brothers, then there was likely something important here that would give him a better chance of defeating and capturing the Marios.

Kevin first decided to look through the books on the Mario Brothers. The first couple books did not contain much information on how they fought and it was more of the history and biography of the Marios. Again, the books cited both origin stories for the Mario Brothers, though, like Kevin, several guesses had been made. One of them was that the Mario were, indeed taken from their biological parents and brought to the Mushroom Kingdom when they were infants. However, there were no citations and that had merely been a supposition made by the author of the book. The second book merely detailed Mario's biography after he had "officially" arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom not much more than a decade ago. Kevin winced as he read about how Mario and Luigi had arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom when Bowser's forces had been on the verge of victory. Bowser had kidnapped Princess Peach and transformed many of the inhabitants of the kingdom into bricks. The Mario Brothers, of course, had arrived and single-handedly pushed back the entire invading force, killing over ten thousand members of Bowser's army in the battle. Most of the casualties had been Goombas and Koopa Troopas, with some Koopa Paratroopas, Buzzy Beetles, and Hammer Brothers, and a handful of Lakitus. Despite the large number of troops lost, this had not been a crippling blow to the Koopa Kingdom. Bowser had not yet unleashed his strongest troops upon the Mushroom World and its citizens. That had changed later on, though, when in his next invasion, he had launched airships, tanks, naval ships, Boomerang and Fire Bro. to support the Hammer Bros., etcetera. The losses in that invasion had been far more devastating, especially the loss of the airship fleet. It was all stuff that he had heard before in both military school as well as in magic class. The prince read on and found that the documents merely detailed how badly the Koopa Troop had been steamrolled by the Marios, not what powers the Marios had used or how said powers functioned.

Kevin decided to scan through several other books and hoped that they would give him more details on Mario's individual powers. The first of his next group of books did not tell him anything he did not already know. It was mainly about Mario's Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and his Invincibility Star. The next book, however, _did_ give the prince some much more useful information. This one not only listed many of the known superpowers of Mario, his natural super strength, his Super/Life Mushroom, Fire Flower, Cape, Raccoon Leaf, Tanooki Suit, Hammer Suit, Super Star, etcetera. The book detailed several variations of such powers that had appeared recently, such as the time limit for Fire Flowers during Mario's recent adventure throughout the galaxy. The Koopa Prince next checked one of the scrolls that he had found. The scroll detailed several items and combination items that could be formed when two items were cooked together. These items greatly interested Kevin; for he knew that such items had sometimes been used by his father's minions as well during Mario's adventure in Rogueport. Another chapter in the same book outlined several useful items, such as the Snow Cone and Meteor Meal, that Mario and his father had used during their adventures in Flipside and Flopside, two towns that were built by ancient beings in-between the various dimensions. The Snow Cone had been instrumental in allowing Mario to complete the Sammer Guy Challenge; and the Meteor Meal had been essential in helping Mario and the others in the adventure beat a shape-shifter named Mimi. As the prince continued to read the books, he began to wonder if Mario and Luigi were only powerful because of their superpowers. He quickly shook off the thought, for he had heard of other times where Mario and/or Luigi had beaten his father when they had not had any superpowers at all.

After he was finished reading the books, Kevin immediately set up the VCR and DVD players so he could watch the recordings of Mario's various battles against his father and against other enemies. As he put in the first tape, he steeled himself in preparation for watching the video. He could not afford to let his emotions take control of him. He needed to study Mario's fighting style and the only way he would be able to do so would be to watch Mario in numerous battles against his father, siblings, and other enemies of the plumber. The first video he watched was a recording of Mario's first battle against Bowser when they were both adults. Despite the fact that Mario was a dangerous enemy of the Koopa Kingdom, neither Kevin, nor the other students, had ever seen videos of Mario fighting, particularly against powerful fighters such as Bowser and the Koopalings. This would only be the second time Kevin had ever watched Mario fight and while this battle took place a decade ago, he knew that this would be a good starting point to see just how powerful Mario really was, and how he fought. As the video started, he saw his father standing on a bridge suspended over a pool of lava. Behind the bridge was an axe with which one could cut down the bridge. Behind his father was a cage suspended from the ceiling that held Princess Peach. Below her was another pool of lava. Mario soon came to meet Bowser, sporting his old Fire Mario outfit, a red shirt with white suspenders. Bowser initiated the battle by spitting fire and tossing out a volley of hammers, each of which Mario dodged with ease while returning fire with a volley of fireballs. Each of the fireballs scored a direct hit on Bowser and within seconds, the final fireball knocked Bowser off of the bridge and into the lava below. Mario then walked on by and proceeded to free the captured Peach. Kevin winced at the scene where his father had been defeated. He knew that this task would be taxing, for he could already feel rage and hatred towards the Marios entering his heart. He vowed that he would do whatever it took to take down the Mario Brothers, no matter the cost. Still, he wanted to avoid sacrificing more Koopas in order to accomplish this task. Kevin then watched the other videos in rapid succession, each of which showed Mario fighting either his father or some other enemy. All of them had the same outcome, though. Either Bowser or said enemy would be defeated, and if said enemy was not Bowser, oftentimes, they would die.

After the prince had finished watching the tapes, he began watching the DVDs. The DVDs had shown more Bowser's more recent battles against Mario and the others. Among others, it showed Bowser's only true victory over Mario, his battle against the plumber shortly after gaining the Star Rod. Mario had been caught unawares by Bowser and had been quickly defeated once the Koopa King had powered up using the Star Rod, making himself invincible. That battle made watching the subsequent fight, where Mario managed to defeat Bowser, Star Rod and all, that much more difficult. Still, a look of comprehension had crossed Kevin's face. The one time that Mario had been beaten, he had been caught off guard, after he had been invited to a party over at Princess Peach's castle. Every other fight Mario had had against his nemesis had resulted in victory. Granted, Bowser had some pretty big advantages with the use of the Star Rod, but that was beside the point in the young Koopa's mind. He skimmed through the other fights that Mario had had with his father and focused on what Bowser had done in order to defeat Mario the first time. Soon, a plan began to form in Kevin's mind. If he could truly control the circumstances in which he and the Mario Brothers fought, then he might have a decent chance of defeating the plumbers. And he had the means to do just that.

Once he was finished his studies on the Mario Brothers, he put away all of the materials that he had gotten out of the archives and exited the area. As he stepped out of the modern section of the archives, the two Dark Koopatrols guarding the entrance shut the gate behind him. Kevin then rushed out of the Hall of Archives and proceeded to begin bringing his plan to fruition. One of the more advanced spells that Kamek had taught him had been how to neutralize an enemy's power. Normally, such magical powers were notoriously difficult to neutralize beforehand since samples of the energy would be required before setting up a barrier seal that would prevent the use of said magic. If the magic were powerful enough, that would be very counterproductive towards the spellcaster. However, most of Mario's powers were based on items that he needed to get a hold of in order to gain access to their effects. That liability could easily be exploited by Kevin's spell. All he would need would be some samples of Mario's superpower items, such as a Super/Life Mushroom, Fire Flower, Raccoon Leaf, etcetera. The more powers he could get, the better. First, though, he had to read up on the spell. He wanted to make sure that nothing would go wrong, both in its casting and in its effect.

He quickly went back into his quarters and into his back study. He searched all of his spell books for the spell and quickly found it in the tome titled, _Bowser the Great's S-ranked Spells, Their Effects, Requirements, and How to Cast Them Safely_. Opening the book, he skimmed its pages, quickly finding the spell, called "Neutralize Special Powers". He read through the spell and how to cast it. Just as he had surmised, it was a complicated spell that required one to gain access to a sample of the magic or other power that one wished to nullify. It was the highest level of another spell that he had heard was called "De-Power". De-Power was easier to cast, but its range was limited and there was a chance that it could fail. Neutralize Special Powers, however, was a spell that could not only neutralize any of the Mario's Superpower items that Kevin managed to gain access to, the barrier also was the size of a small town, and could neutralize any power based on the type of magic, or psychic, cosmic, or whatever, power it was based on. There was a chance that Mario's other items might not work even if Kevin was not thorough enough in gaining said items. He did not want to take that chance, however, so he made certain that when he went to gain hold of some of Mario's superpowers, he got as many of them as possible. However, he knew that he would have to be discrete about it, for he did not want to give the Mario's any warning that he was after them. That would not be a problem for him, though. Kevin then went over to a desk and pulled out a special magic scepter that consisted of a golden rod with a round, red, dome-shaped gem at the end. He then put on his black cloak and, after tucking his wand into his cloak, vanished from his quarters.

Kevin reappeared on the same hillside that he had watched his father get beaten to a pulp by Mario. He remembered from his previous trip here that there was a Toad House not too far away. However, in order to be sure that he would be able to enter said Toad House without revealing himself or arousing any suspicion, he had to take on the guise of a Toad. He quickly pulled out his wand and went around searching for a Toad that he could mimic. Sure enough, he did not have to wait long, for a Toad with a blue spotted mushroom cap, and a blue vest, much like many of the other known Toads. In addition, this blue Toad was wearing a pair of eyeglasses. In fact, this Toad looked a lot like Blue Toad of the Toad Brigade, one of the few Toads that was willing to travel with Mario on some of his more recent adventures. He subtly approached the Blue Toad and extended his wand towards the Toad. A spray of energy emerged from the head of the wand and covered the Toad, the Toad seemingly unaware of the fact that he was surrounded by a field of energy. Soon, the energy field split apart and reformed a beam, which then retreated back into the wand. Kevin then transformed into a perfect copy of the Blue Toad, glasses and all. The Koopa Prince then used his wand to scan the wand of the Blue Toad. Peering into the Toad's mind, he found that the Toad had been going to a Toad House to take out some overstock from the house and deliver it to Peach's Castle. Kevin did his best to suppress a grin. This was perfect. He could duck into the Toad House, get the excess inventory, and disappear. Peach and the others would not know for a while that the merchandise had never made it to the castle. In addition, Bowser and the Koopa Troop could not use Mario's superpowers, so even if they had disappeared, the others would more likely suspect the Toad of taking the items for himself. He then deactivated the spell and put the Toad in a blissful sleep that he would awaken from in about a couple of hours. Kevin then cast a second spell so that he would begin to sleepwalk at approximately one minute before he awakened. Once he would awaken, he would remember having taken the excess inventory to the castle, none the wiser of his unknown encounter with the Prince of the Koopas.

Kevin then walked down the hill and went over towards the Toad House down in the valley. The Toad House was shaped like a mushroom with a red head with white dots. As soon as he arrived in the town, the prince made his way towards the house with no one having any idea who he really was. He went over to the Toad House and knocked on the door. A voice from inside the house asked, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Blue Toad" Kevin replied, his voice perfectly mimicking Blue Toad's. "I'm here to pick up the excess inventory you've got and take it to the castle."

"Man, it's about time," came the voice from inside the Toad House. "What was keeping you?"

"I had other errands to run for the court," Kevin answered quickly, hoping that his excuse would suffice.

"Why? Bowser didn't even make it close to the castle," the voice from inside said.

"Don't ask me," the faux Blue Toad answered, "I just do what they tell me to."

The door soon opened and a Toad with a white cap with red spots on it stood at the entrance. At his side was a large trunk. He looked at Blue Toad and whistled. "Man, they gave you nuthin' to lug this stuff with, did they."

Kevin feigned looking glum as he stared at the large treasure chest. Inwardly, however, he was grinning from ear to ear. There had to be a ton of power-ups inside that chest. "Hope you can manage on the long trip back ta the castle," the Toad said, trying to inspire a bit of hope.

"Yeah, thanks," Kevin answered. "You don't happen to have a hand truck or a something like that, do you?" the prince asked.

The Toad shook his head. "Sorry man, this is all I've got. I hope they're payin' you extra for this."

"They better be," Kevin almost grumbled.

"Well, good luck," the Toad said, waving towards Kevin as he turned to depart. "And look out for any bandits as well. I hear that a band has appeared and is mugging travelers that are headed towards the castle."

Kevin, however, had long gone, feigning difficulty in lugging the large chest out of town. While the prince did not like having to act like the chest was a bother to him, mainly because he was so eager to get back to his quarters and begin working on the spell that would disable the superpowers of the Mario Brothers within the confines of the spell, he knew that he had to play the part until there was no risk of anyone seeing him. For the better part of half an hour, he "struggled" to carry the chest out of town and up the hill off in the distance. He felt as if once he was safely over the top of the hill, he could disappear and get back to his room.

As soon as he had crested the top of the hill, though, before he could vanish, a squad of four Bandits appeared. They were humanoid in appearance but smaller than a normal human. They wore red cloaks and hoods and also wore white masks. The leader of the Bandits approached the Koopa Prince and stared at the chest. He gave a whistle and said, "Woo boy. Looks like we hit the mother lode here." He then gazed at the Koopa Prince, who was still in the form of Blue Toad. "So Toad, how much ya want to avoid getting' beaten up, or worse?"

"You four don't scare me," Kevin growled defiantly.

This brought a chuckle from the Bandits. "Well, looks like we've got an idiot here, guys. How 'bout we show him what happens when fools decide not to follow our…" but he never got the chance to finish, for Kevin extended his hand and casually reduced the four Bandits to ashes by unleashing a blast of flame from his hand. The quartet did not even get the chance to scream. Kevin then sighed. "Weaklings," he muttered with disdain as he vanished from the hill.

Kevin appeared once more inside his room, in the center living room, with his large chest and immediately used his wand to lug the chest back to his study. As he went, he cast aside the disguise of Blue Toad, shimmering sparks flying away from his body as he reassumed his normal form. Once he got back to his study, and cleared away a large enough space for the chest, he opened the chest. After he opened the chest, he peered inside and his eyes went wide with delight. He was like a child on Christmas morning after going downstairs and seeing all of the presents underneath the Christmas tree. Inside the chest were numerous copies of many of Mario and Luigi's power-ups. The prince was easily able to spot Super/Life Mushrooms, Fire Flowers, Raccoon Leaves, Tanooki Suits, Cape Feathers, Hammer Suits, Penguin Suits, Propeller Suits, Ice Flowers, Frog Suits, etcetera. Even a few items that Mario had only used sparingly, such as Thunder Bolts, Thunder Rages, and Ice Storms, had appeared inside the chest. This was even better than he had hoped for. Kevin soon went over to begin preparations for making the spell. He would need a few days in order to get all of the proper ingredients in order to create the Neutralize Special Powers spell in a way so that it could be cast from a magic wand. Initially, Bowser the Great, his ancestor from a thousand years ago, had created the spell to be used only after intense preparation, for it had been used as an Ace-in-the-hole against Ganondorf, should the King of Evil ever attack the Koopa Kingdom. Kevin was about to try a feat that had only been discussed through theories, and not done in actual practice. However, he felt that if he were successful in this endeavor, he would definitely hold a significant edge over the Mario Brothers when the time came to face them. As it was, he knew that he would be hard at work for the next few days, preparing the spell, brushing up on his other magic and his fighting skills. If something went wrong with this spell, he knew that he would have to be at the top of his game in order to defeat the Super Mario Bros. on a level playing field. Kevin got out a large, black witch's pot and lit a fire underneath of it. While he did not often like using magic that required a large amount of preparation, for many things could go wrong with such spells, he knew that it would be well worth the wait, and risk, if everything worked out and he was able to disable the main weapons of the Super Mario Bros.

The days went by without any real incident. Kevin worked on his fighting skills, broom riding, and other magic skills. He had fought groups of drone opponents, Koopa Troopas and other enemies that had been created from magical spells out of bricks inside castles and that had just been laying around the kingdom. He also set up some sparring sessions with Kamek, ostensibly to hone his skills for whatever job his father might have for him in the future. He also took time to visit his father and his siblings, talking to them about recent events. He still sought his father's authorization to kill the Mario Brothers, but his father had refused his request at every turn. Still, that did nothing to dampen the prince's spirits, or dissuade him from his current path. The Mario Brothers had to be defeated, and even if he was not allowed to kill them, his father had said nothing about not capturing them. In addition, every day, at constant intervals, Kevin would check on his brew, which was boiling inside his study. He followed the direction of the spell to the letter. If this spell was going to work, he would have to get everything right.

Eventually, at the end of the week, the brew was finally ready. Kevin went into his study and checked on the concoction in the pot. After checking his spell book, he found that the brew was finally ready to be tested. He had set before him several of Mario's power-ups, a Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, Raccoon Leaf, and a Tanooki Suit. He cast an indicator spell from his wand and each of the power-ups stared to glow, indicating that they were still fully functional. The Koopa Prince then dipped his wand head into the brew and pulled it out. The golden liquid covered the red head of the wand and the head turned golden. He then activated the spell and fired it at the power-ups, being careful to only target the power-ups and leave everything else alone. A golden beam of light emerged from the wand and struck the Fire Flower in the center. Immediately, a square formed and encompassed every single one of the power-ups. As the square encompassed the power-ups, each of the power-ups went dark, indicating that they were no longer functioning. Kevin grinned at the sight. He then waited for a while to see how long the effect would last. He found that the effect lasted about an hour before it wore off. The prince grinned. This was better than he had hoped for. With one final blast of magic from his wand, he destroyed the power-ups, though he kept a few around for further study. He was hoping to be able to find out how they worked so he allow his father, or the other members of the Koopa Troop to use them against the Mario Brothers. He then dipped the wand back into his brew and pulled it out. Once again, his wand head glowed gold, indicating that the spell was stored inside his wand, ready for use at his call. His plans were coming to fruition. All he had to do now was set up the bait that would bring the Mario Brothers to him; and there was only one thing that would suffice: Princess Peach Toadstool of the Mushroom Kingdom. With that in mind, Kevin vanished from his room, his destination, Princess Peach's Castle.

Inside Princess Peach's Castle, Peach, a tall human woman with long blond hair, blue eyes, and wearing a long pink short sleeve dress; and her loyal steward, Toadsworth, an elderly Toad with tan skin, a beige cap with brown spots, sporting a light purple vest with golden buttons that have Toad emblems on them. In addition, Toadsworth also wore a pair of black glasses, and had a puffy, white mustache that covered his whole mouth. In addition, he carried a cane with a brown mushroom cap on top. This cane also doubled as a magic stick that could summon blocks out of thin air and produce power-ups for Mario and/or Luigi. Peach was headed back to her bedroom with Toadsworth following close behind. "Milady, I must insist that you study your Hylian," the old steward insisted. "This is the first time in over a century that Hyrule has been willing to even entertain the possibility of opening up with the rest of the world. At least being able to speak with their representatives on equal terms would do wonders for alleviating any fears that the people of Hyrule might have."

"I'm fine on my Hylian, Toadsworth," Peach insisted. "I've been studying it for weeks. I know what this opportunity entails, but the first meeting isn't for a week yet."

"I know," the old Toad admitted, "but you shouldn't wait until the last minute. Learning something about the Hylians could allow us to make some headway with them. They've been extremely isolationist for the last two centuries. Even this small attempt at opening up with the rest of the world is a momentous occasion to say the least."

"I understand, Toadsworth," Peach told him. She then made her way over to the door to her bedroom and bid Toadsworth a goodnight. She was about to open the door when an electrical field appeared over the door. The princess quickly pulled her hand away and turned around, only to see Toadsworth and several Toads gasping in horror at the Koopa standing before them. Kevin was wearing his usual black robe, though he had removed his hood, revealing his head. He was instantly recognized by Peach and the others present. The others gasped in horror at the sight of the prince and were frozen with fear. "K…K…K…K…Kevin," they barely managed to cloak, their fear evident on their faces.

"Kevin," Peach stammered. "What are you doing here?"

"What my father could not," Kevin answered cryptically.

Toadsworth raised his cane and attempted to shoot off a spell from his magic stick, but with merely a glance from the Koopa Prince, his stick flew out of his hands and across the floor. Kevin then held up his wand and a ring of energy emanated from it. The ring of energy expanded outwards, forcing Peach to duck beneath it. While the expanding ring sailed over her head, the other Toad guards were not so quick, and were rendered unconscious by the beam, leaving only Peach and an unarmed Toadsworth conscious. He then pointed his wand at Peach and a yellow beam of energy was fired at the princess. The beam of energy struck Peach and a series of chains formed around her, binding her. The princess was about to fall when Kevin disappeared from where he had been standing and reappeared next to Peach, catching her before she fell. He glared at Toadsworth and told him, "I am taking Peach to Mushroom Mountain near the outskirts of the Mushroom Kingdom. Follow me at your own peril." With that, Kevin vanished from the castle, along with Peach.

Just as he left, the other guards began to regain consciousness. Toadsworth then screamed to the guards, "Anyone, everyone, go get the Marios! Tell them that Peach has been kidnapped by the Prince of the Koopas. Also, get all dossiers on Prince Kevin at once! The Marios have never faced him before and they really need to know who, and what, they're up against when they go to save Peach!"

The Toads of Peach's Castle then went about their duties, with several of them rushing out of the castle so as to inform the Mario Brothers of Peach's kidnapping. As Toadsworth organized the gathering of information on Kevin, he began to wonder if Peach really _was_ the Koopa Prince's target, or if he had another target in mind. The thought quickly left him, though. All that mattered, to him, was Peach's safety. Little did he know, though, that Peach was actually very safe for the time being; for it was not Peach that Kevin wanted, but the Marios.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Mario and Luigi made their way out of Princess Peach's Castle and headed towards Mushroom Mountain near the outskirts of the Mushroom Kingdom in their go-karts, Mario driving the red kart, with Luigi driving the green. They needed to get there as quickly as possible before Kevin had managed to take Princess Peach beyond the borders of the Mushroom Kingdom, for they had a feeling that once Peach's kidnapper crossed into the Koopa Kingdom, that he would have an entire army supporting him. Before departing, they had taken a large assortment of power-ups and other items, such as Thunder Rages, Ice Storms, and Shooting Stars. Toadsworth had also told them that the one who had kidnapped Princess Peach was the Crown Prince of the Koopas, Kevin. He was the oldest son of Bowser and the only Koopaling that the brothers had yet to face off against in combat. Mario had noticed that Toadsworth spoke about Kevin with both respect, as well as a noticeable amount of fear as well. In fact, Toadsworth had said that Kevin was the Koopa Kingdom's version of the Super Mario Brothers.

As they drove, they thought about what to expect in the upcoming battle. They knew that Kevin would have to be brazen, and powerful, if he were willing to enter Princess Peach's Castle plainly, without any backup, and kidnap Peach while she was surrounded by guards, as well as in the presence of Toadsworth. They knew that Kevin was not like his other siblings, or even his father. Bowser and the others had always had backup waiting for them whenever they had kidnapped Peach. Kevin, however, was completely alone, and that troubled the Marios greatly. They suspected that he was confident in his ability to defeat them even with a numerical disadvantage. They figured that he had to be planning something.

As they were pondering the recent events, they heard the sounds of more karts coming up from behind. Driving behind them were four other Toads, also driving in karts. As they moved up alongside of the Mario Brothers, they gave the humans a wave, which the Marios returned. The Toads had brown caps with red, green, blue, and pink colored spots respectively. The red-spotted Toad called over to the Marios, "Well, it looks like we'll be fighting alongside you. With you fighting, and there being no other signs of Koopas, this'll be a piece of cake."

Mario was not so sure. Kevin had to be pretty confident in his abilities to be willing to risk fighting the Mario Brothers seemingly without any backup. "So, who are we gonna clobber?" the Toad with the green spots asked.

"Kevin Koopa," Luigi responded. "We're kind of going in blind here, so if you've got any information on Kevin, please tell us. We can use all the information on him we can get."

The faces of each of the four Toads went blank at the mere mention of the name of Kevin. "Uh, Kevin?" the red-spotted Toad asked. "You're gonna take on Kevin?'

"Yes," the Mario Brothers responded. "Why?"

"Because Kevin is the most powerful Koopa in history, next to Bowser the Great," the Toad with blue spots responded unsteadily. "There's a reason Bowser hasn't sent him on any missions here, yet."

"Why hasn't he?" Mario asked.

"Pride," the Toad with pink spots answered succinctly. "Bowser's scared of Kevin showing him up."

"So, what can Kevin do that Bowser and the others can't?" Luigi asked.

"Lots of things," the Toads answered in unison. "He can use all of the combat spells of the Magikoopas, can fire lightning and/or fire from his hand, he has ice spells, etcetera. He's a one-Koopa army, just like you guys. They also say that he has some form of magic that he keep secret, even from his own mentor, Kamek."

Mario and Luigi nodded. This was useful information. It appeared as if Kevin fought more like a Magikoopa than his siblings. They would not make the mistake of believing that Kevin was limited to magic, though. The other Toads then looked over at Mario and said, "Well, good luck against Kevin. You're gonna need it. We'll all be routin' for ya." Each of the four Toads then proceeded to break off from the Mario Brothers, leaving them alone as they went towards Mushroom Mountain, which was now visible in the distance. Mario quickly checked his pockets, making sure that he had a diverse array of power-ups and items. He looked over and saw his younger brother doing the same thing. They both knew that they would need everything they had in their arsenal in order to defeat the Crown Prince of the Koopas.

Meanwhile, on top of Mushroom Mountain, Kevin stood atop the mountain, looking down at the scene below him. He witnessed the four Toads who had come to support the Marios, or rather, cheer them on, break off and abandon their heroes. "Some friends," he muttered sarcastically. He looked back at Peach, who was suspended in the air, chained by magical chains, and extended his wand into the air. Immediately, the scene below them played out across a magical hologram. "So this is what your Toads are known for," Kevin mocked. "Running away when the going gets tough, leaving it to their heroes to do their own jobs for them."

"They just don't want to get in the way," Peach countered. Inwardly, though, she was less than pleased about the four Elite Toad Guards abandoning the Marios when they had learned who they were fighting. If she got out of this predicament, she would be certain to chastise them and demote them back a rank. "And how many Goombas desert when they hear that they're going up against Mario?" she retorted.

"None," the Koopa Prince responded plainly. "Despite the fact that our army is almost certainly going to die, they still perform their duties. Hopefully, after today, army after army of Koopas and Goombas won't be sent to die against the Mario Brothers."

"What do you mean?" Peach asked. "I thought you were waiting for your backup to take me to Bowser."

Kevin grinned. "No," he said, shaking his head. "I have no intention of presenting you to my father. I plan on giving him a much better gift."

At first, Peach was puzzled as to what the prince meant, but after a second of contemplation, her eyes went wide with realization. "No!" she blurted.

Kevin nodded. "Those Toads show me that without your heroes, you really _are_ nothing. I mean, look at you. What did you do to resist capture? What have you done to try to escape, leaving me with no leverage on the Marios? And the worst part of it is that you aren't even a weakling like the Toads that just deserted you. I've seen you fight when you must. You can fight! Why don't you fight back when my father or brothers kidnap you? At least make it harder for them to capture you! I mean, really, a cake catches you?"

Peach was speechless before Kevin's questions and accusations. He was right. She could fight, a bit. She was not nearly as strong as either of the Marios or Bowser, though, but she had shown her abilities before. She had gone down easily far too many times. She looked down at the Koopa Prince and, after examining him and taking in what he had said, she could scarcely believe that he was related to Bowser, Bowser Jr., and the other Koopalings in any way. There was a regal nature to the prince, as well as a feeling of compassion. He was not mocking her. He really was surprised that she had not offered more resistance to his capture of her. She could tell that he had wanted her to fight back against him and not come quietly, and not just because of pride. She believed that inwardly, Kevin had difficulty following the orders of his father, and that he really _did_ care about the Koopa Kingdom. That was why he was after the Marios, and not just delivering her to Bowser. He wanted to end the threat that the Marios posed, while still being able to follow his father's orders to the letter. She also felt as if, despite Kevin's loyalty to his father, even _he_ had a breaking point, and that said breaking point was close. One thing she knew, though, was that despite his power, she would much rather have _him_ as the Koopa King than Bowser. She then looked at the hologram as the Mario Brothers approached the mountain. They were coming to rescue her. She had to somehow let them know that they were walking into a trap. Kevin was far more powerful than anyone in either the Mushroom Kingdom, or the Koopa Kingdom, knew.

Kevin looked down the mountain, extending his magical sight until he spotted the two karts ascending the mountain. Looking back at Peach he told her, "They're coming. If you play your part, you'll get out of this without a problem."

_Until your father comes to kidnap me again_, Peach thought sarcastically. However, she defiantly told him, "Yes, I'll get out of this because the Mario Brothers will defeat you. They have access to powers you can't possibly imagine. There's no way they'll come here unprepared."

Kevin merely gave a soft chuckle. "Yes, I know. However, I've made special preparations of my own."

That statement gave Peach pause. She wondered what Kevin could be talking about when she saw him looking at his golden wand head. She then realized, with dread, that he _did_ have a plan for dealing with the Marios. They were being led right into a trap and had no backup thanks to those cowardly Toad guards. The Koopa Prince soon dispersed the hologram and simply waited for the Mario Brothers to arrive.

The Mario Brothers drove up to the side of the mountain and once they had arrived, they disembarked from their karts and proceeded to make their way up the mountain on foot. Along the way, they encountered no resistance in the form of Koopas, which surprised them greatly. It did not take them long to reach the top of the mountain. Despite the fact that they were likely expected, they had not run into any traps, which also came as a surprise. As they reached the top, they saw Princess Peach suspended in the air bound by magical chains. They also saw a black-robed "Magikoopa" standing underneath the princess. As the Mario Brothers approached, Peach was gently lowered to the ground, where she landed right next to Kevin. As the Marios looked closer, they realized that the "Magikoopa" that they were facing was the same one they met at the end of Bowser's last kidnapping attempt against Peach. Once Peach touched down onto the ground, she called out to the Marios, "Mario, Luigi, get out of here! It's a trap!"

Kevin scowled and turned back towards Peach. Drawing out his wand, he told her, "Your usefulness here has ended." He pointed his wand at her and fired a golden beam of light from its head. The beam struck Peach and she promptly vanished into thin air.

Mario and Luigi gasped at the disappearance of Peach, fearing that she had been killed. "What did you do to her?" Mario roared in question.

"I sent her back to her castle," Kevin answered calmly. "She was merely the means to an end; that end being bringing the two of you to me."

"Why do you want us?" Luigi asked. He was beginning to wonder if Kevin had ulterior motives for wanting to face the Mario Brothers, especially since he had not brought any backup with him.

"I want to defeat you in battle," the Koopa Prince answered calmly. "For more than a decade, you've been a bane to Koopas. Countless coins and a staggering number of lives have been spent trying to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom, a kingdom with a standing army that a squadron of Koopa Troopas with a single bazooka could conquer; that is if the Mushroom Kingdom did not have its heroes defending it at every turn. In the decade or so since you've been fighting us actively, you, your brother, and allies have killed more than a million of us: Koopas, Goombas, Clubbas, Boos, Bob-ombs, Shy Guys, etcetera. Even more have been wounded in battle! No more!" Kevin roared. "I will end it, right here, right now! No one else will die fighting you! I won't allow it!"

With that, Kevin pointed his wand at Mario and Luigi. The Mario Brothers, however, had already powered up, grabbing hold of their Fire Flowers. They both transformed into Fire Mario and Fire Luigi respectively and opened fire on Kevin. Fireballs erupted from their hands and streaked towards the Koopa Prince. The prince took the assault without even attempting to dodge, for he knew that he could weather their initial assault, and disabling the powers of the Super Mario Brothers was paramount to his plan, since he did not want to kill them, not yet. He grunted as he sustained the withering assault, burns already forming on his robes and hand, but he still held strong. He pointed his wand at the Marios and fired, a blast of golden light erupting from the wand. Mario and Luigi dodged the blast, dashing to their right and left respectively, allowing the blast to strike the ground harmlessly, or so it was thought. As the blast hit the ground, it exploded into several lines that washed over Mario, Luigi, and even Kevin. The energy lines rose high into the sky and soon spread out over the whole land, encompassing the entire mountain and at least a mile or so beyond the mountain in all directions before the lines eventually fell to the ground and promptly disappeared. The brothers then felt their fire powers vanish and, looking at themselves, found that they had reverted to their normal forms. They fished inside their pockets and gripped other power-ups and tried to transform again, only to find that they were still normal. Kevin grinned. "My spell neutralizes any and all special power-ups and items that I had managed to place into the spell."

Mario and Luigi soon revealed items that they had believed that Kevin would not have expected. They each pulled out a Thunder bolt, a small cloud with a lightning bolt and had it target the Koopa Prince. However, as they went to activate the Thunder bolt, the cloud and lightning fizzled and vanished in a puff of smoke. "I managed to gain access to some special items that you have used in past adventures as well," Kevin added.

"How?" Luigi asked.

"That's not important. What's important is that I managed to gain them and create this spell which has neutralized your superpowers and other offensive items. And now, even if you should escape the confines of this spell, I will ensure that you do not have any powers to draw upon." Kevin then pointed his wand back at the Mario Brothers, its head now red, something that the Marios were quick to notice, but could not worry about right now, and fired another beam at them, this one being a green beam. The beam split off and struck both brothers in the chest, energy arcing across their bodies. Despite the energy arcing across their bodies, the brothers felt no pain. The spell was not inflicting any damage on them. However, they did feel their power-ups and offensive items leave their pockets and fly into the air. Fire Flowers, Super Mushrooms, Raccoon Leaves, Cape Feathers, and even some Thunder Rages and Ice Storms rose into the air above them: all of the items, save for a couple Shooting Star that the Marios had brought with them. A stream of fire then erupted from Kevin's wand and the power-ups and items were immediately incinerated. Once that was finished, Kevin stared back at the brothers. "You obviously came prepared for a difficult fight," he told them, "but I was ready as well. Without your superpowers, you are not nearly as dangerous as many would have us believe. I will give you this one chance: surrender now, and I will do my utmost not to have you killed as long as you leave the Mushroom Kingdom and promise never to return to defend it again."

"Not a chance," both brothers responded harshly.

Kevin looked down at the ground. "I suspected as much," he said softly. "Then prepare for battle!" the prince cried as he charged towards the Mario Brothers.

Over at Princess Peach's Castle, Peach stood in the center of the castle and looked around. Toads were going about their daily duties, with Toadsworth giving directions. The castle still seemed to be in an uproar since her disappearance. She could see the looks of fear on the faces of the Toads and she knew that it would be a difficult task to bring along any assistance to the Mario Brothers. As she had appeared, Toadsworth jumped up in surprise. "Princess!" he cried at the sight of her. "You're back! The Marios did it! You're saved!"

"No!" she blurted. "Kevin sent me back here! The Mario Brothers were his target from the beginning! I was merely the bait!"

"But it doesn't matter now," one of her guards replied. "We've got you back. What more needs to be done?"

"You're not listening," Peach nearly yelled, in a very unladylike fashion. "Kevin's sole target is the Mario Brothers. He doesn't care about me or the rest of the kingdom. He knows that with the Marios out of the way, his father can come into the Mushroom Kingdom unopposed and lay waste. He set up a trap for the Marios. Given the cryptic hints that he told me, as well as his confidence in beating the Marios without having any sort of backup, I think that he has managed to duplicate Bowser the Great's Neutralize Special Powers spell."

That caused the other Toads, along with Toadsworth, to gasp. "The Mario Brothers are going to a fight where they may not be able to use any of their superpowers or even items that they brought along with them."

That brought another gasp from the occupants of the castle. "Then, the Mario Brothers are doomed," one of the guards, a Toad with blue-green spots, wearing a gray cape and carrying a spear said.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," the princess countered. "I'm going to try to get them out of the trap!"

"No!" Toadsworth blurted. "You can't go! You're no match for Kevin!"

"I can't just stay here, Toadsworth," Peach contended. "Mario and Luigi need help. Who here is willing to go help them?"

The other Toads, knowing that they were about to be called upon to help Peach fight, immediately backed away and fled, feigning that they had other duties that needed to be attended to. Seeing this, Peach looked down at Toadsworth and said, "My point exactly."

"I'll go help them out," a young male voice called out from the entrance.

Peach and Toadsworth looked over and saw a young male Goomba with a blue cap on his head. Peach instantly recognized the Goomba as being Goombario, one of Mario's friends and comrades from when Bowser had stolen the Star Rod and taken her castle high into the sky. Goombario came over to Peach and asked, "Where are the Mario's now!"

"They're over on Mushroom Mountain, near the outskirts of the Mushroom Kingdom," the princess answered. "However, they're fighting Kevin Koopa and it's likely that a lot of their items won't be effective. Their superpowers are also useless as long as they're on the mountain."

"Kevin?" Goombario asked.

Peach nodded.

"So he's finally come into the fight, eh?" Goombario commented. "I was wondering how long it would take." Goombario had been surprised that Kevin had not entered the war sooner. He then looked up at Peach and said, "Leave everything to me. I also heard that some of the others are coming, too, so you should stay here and tell them where I'm going."

Peach did not like having to stay behind while Mario went out to fight Kevin, especially since she knew just how dangerous an opponent the Koopa Prince really was, but in her heart, she knew that it was for the best. If she had gone, Kevin could have easily captured her and used her as leverage against Mario and Luigi. Goombario was a better fighter than she was, so she suspected that he could take care of himself and that he would be a much better ally for the brothers. As such, she responded, "Okay, brave Goomba. Go and help Mario. I'll stay here and coordinate with you and the others who come."

Goombario nodded and then rushed out the door. As he left, Peach said a silent prayer that both Goombario would get to the Marios in time, and that they would be able to defeat the Koopa Prince.

Back on Mushroom Mountain, Mario and Luigi were having a difficult fight against Kevin. Mario drew out his hammer and charged towards the prince, taking a swing at the Koopa as he drew close to his enemy. The Koopa deftly dodged the strike, causing the hammer to smash into the ground, sending up a cloud of dirt and debris. The ground in the vicinity of the hammer strike shook, but the prince did not lose his balance. Kevin then pulled back his left hand and, curling his fingers into a fist, let fly at Mario. The punch managed to catch Mario in the head, forcing the human back a few steps, but Mario's increased durability allowed him to weather the blow and get right back into the fight. As Kevin struck Mario, Luigi also took a swing with his hammer at the prince. Kevin saw the attack coming and moved to his side in order to avoid the strike. Unfortunately for him, though, Mario had quickly recovered from the punch and was already swinging his hammer right where the Koopa Prince was going to arrive after dodging Luigi's swing. Mario's hammer caught the prince right in the chest. Kevin grunted as the blow forced him to exhale the air in his lungs. He staggered backwards a few feet and, seeing this as an opportunity, the Marios pressed the attack.

Mario was the first to charge and he swung his hammer once more at Kevin, this time aiming for the Koopa's head. Kevin managed to duck beneath the blow and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Luigi coming towards him, already swinging his hammer. He knew that he would be unable to avoid Luigi's strike, so he curled into his shell and used his magic to increase his defense. Luigi's hammer blow came right down on the Koopa Prince's shell and a loud whack echoed around the mountain. The prince grunted with the blow, since the force of the hammer blow shook the inside of his shell, but he suffered no damage. He emerged from his shell and pointed his wand towards the Mario Brothers. He fired a stream of fire towards them, but the Marios were able to dive underneath of it and quickly crawl out of its way before the prince swept the stream of flame downwards in an attempt to incinerate them. Mario then charged Kevin, his hammer at the ready, as Luigi jumped into the air. The Koopaling thrust out his hand and an invisible force pushed Mario backwards and to the ground. However, as Kevin had forced Mario backwards, the plumber's younger brother landed on the prince's head. Kevin gave a cry as he thrust his wand upwards as he was knocked over by Luigi's stomp. The wand managed to make contact with Luigi and sent him flying through the air. The plumber landed several yards away from Kevin, grunting as he hit the ground, but quickly rose to face the Koopa. Kevin then rose and readied himself to continue this fight. However, he knew that even without their superpowers, the Marios were still forces to be reckoned with, as the current fight was showing him firsthand. Still, despite being outnumbered, he did have a few advantages; the biggest one being that he had ranged attacks and the Marios had none that he knew of at the time.

Kevin then backed away and summoned his broomstick. A traditional witch's broom appeared beneath the Koopa Prince and he gripped its front with his left had as he raised his wand into the sky. After mounting the broom, he quickly ascended and an unnatural blue flame appeared above the head of the wand. Kevin pointed the wand down at the Marios and a stream of blue fire was unleashed upon them. The Marios split up in order to force Kevin to divide his attention between the two of them. However, much as with Bowser's blue flame when they faced him when he had taken Princess Peach's Castle years ago in the Bowser in the Sky course, the blue fire divided into three flames that hopped across the ground. The difference here, though, was the fact that the blue flames were homing in on each of the brothers. Mario dove out of the way of one of the flames as the other two bore down on him. He managed to dance away from them for the time being, but he was too distracted by the flames to focus on the Koopa Prince who was hovering above the two brothers. Kevin glanced over at Luigi and, seeing that the younger of the Mario Brothers was having his own problems dodging the flames and preparing a counterattack, he focused his attention on Mario. He pointed his wand down on the older human and a bolt of lightning emerged from it. The lightning bolt struck Mario in the chest and he gave a cry as electricity arced across his body. He then fell to one knee as the blue flames converged on him. The plumber gave another cry as he was hit by the flames and he ran around, his backside on fire. The flames were extinguished as quickly as Kevin had summoned them, for he did not want Mario to be killed. Mario then lay there, seemingly unconscious as Kevin went to deal with Luigi. During that time, Mario got out a Deluxe Feast that Tayce T. had made for him two days ago and promptly began to eat it. He knew that he would have no chance against Kevin if he did not have his full health. He only hoped that Luigi would be able to manage until he was finished his meal.

While Mario was busy healing himself, Kevin had turned his attention to Luigi. The plumber was having difficulty dodging the blue homing flames that had erupted from the massive fire attack that Kevin had unleashed against the two brothers. He constantly weaved and danced out of the way of the homing flames, barely managing to avoid taking a hit. Kevin put an end to his evasiveness by firing a lightning bolt from his wand, just as he had done with Luigi's older brother. The bolt of lightning struck the human in the chest and he was paralyzed by the attack, in addition to being noticeably hurt. The blue flames then converged on the green and blue clad plumber and exploded upon converging on him. Since he was paralyzed, though, Luigi was unable to run around as Mario had when the flames had struck him. Kevin, knowing that he could not afford to kill the human, extinguished the flames before they were fatal.

After a while, Luigi was able to move once more and he pulled out an Ultra Shroom Shake in order to restore the health that he had lost in Kevin's assault. The prince saw him take out his Ultra Shroom Shake and was about to fire his wand at the item to destroy it when suddenly, out of nowhere, a rain of yellow stars fell upon him from the sky. The stars landed all around him, but those that failed to hit him did not inflict any damage to the mountain. The prince raised his arms over his head as he endured the assault, looking down at the healed Mario, utilizing a Shooting Star item. While the Shooting Star item did not inflict much damage to Kevin, it did manage to get through his increased defenses. In addition, the barrage of stars that was raining down on him struck his broomstick and shattered its front end. The stick soon spun out of control, much like a helicopter that was missing its rear rotor. Soon, more stars were converging on the stick and Kevin was forced to abandon it as the stars shattered the stick. The prince fell through the air, still under attack from the stars, and hit the ground hard, grunting as he hit. He had sustained moderate damage in the attack, all told, but it was nothing that a quick healing spell would not fix, which it did. The prince then focused back on the Marios once more as they began to approach him. Despite the loss of his broomstick and the fact that the Marios had healed from the recent exchange, Kevin had a feeling that they were coming down to the end of the battle. Mario had revealed his Shooting Star and it had only inflicted minor damage to the Koopa Prince, damage that he had just healed. Kevin could not help but smile. He had them. He did not need his broomstick to defeat them. Chances were that they had used up their last healing items and probably their only ranged attack items that had not been programmed into the Neutralize Special Powers spell. And he had yet to reveal his true skills to the Mario Brothers.

The Mario Brothers then charged Kevin as one, while Kevin merely stood in one place, preparing himself for the attack. The Marios drew out their hammers and proceeded to swing at him. Kevin dodged their swings and jumped backwards, displaying far more agility than he had earlier in the fight, which surprised the two human heroes. The Koopaling drew out his wand once more and he fired a blast of blue lightning, which branched off into two bolts. The bolts struck the gray heads of the hammers that the Marios wielded and the hammers were disintegrated. The Marios let go of the handles so that they would not be disintegrated in the process. The brothers grimaced. Kevin had just been toying with them earlier. Now he was serious, and they had a feeling that he was far more powerful than even Toadsworth had warned.

Kevin soon proved their suppositions right as he charged towards the brothers with blinding speed. The Marios were barely able to react as he appeared in front of them and with a punch and a swipe of his wand, sent them flying in opposite directions. Kevin pursued Mario as he flew and reappeared behind him just as Mario flipped and managed to land on his feet. Sensing an attack from behind, Mario raised his left arm and managed to deflect Kevin's punch and dodge his subsequent wand swipe. However, Kevin was not finished. The wand head glowed and Mario quickly dove to the side as a blast of ice emerged from the head, creating a long sheet of ice on the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, the Koopa Prince saw Luigi recover and charge towards him at superhuman speeds. Luigi leapt towards the Koopaling performing a flying side kick. Kevin dodged the attack and Luigi sailed past him. But the prince soon found himself moving into a Flame Fist from Mario. Mario's fiery punch connected with Kevin's torso and the prince was sent staggering back a few feet. Not only that, but Luigi was quick to recover and this time, he did not leave his feet as he attacked the prince. Luigi rushed towards the prince and attempted to perform a karate chop to the teenager's neck. Kevin raised his hand to block the strike, but the blue and green clad plumber continued to go on the offensive with another chop, which Kevin managed to dodge by swaying to the side. Luigi launched a third attack, but the prince managed to catch Luigi's hand this time. The Koopa then curled his fingers into a fist and drove it into the abdomen of Luigi. Luigi gave a grunt as the fist forced the air out of his lungs and took him off his feet. The younger Mario Brother was sent flying through the air.

Kevin was about to launch another attack when Mario joined in to support his younger brother. Interposing himself between the Koopaling and his brother, Mario blocked Kevin's next punch and then proceeded to go on the attack. The plumber unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks towards Bowser's eldest son, but the prince was able to deflect or evade each of the attacks. The prince retaliated with his own flurry of attacks, but Mario was able to parry or block them as well. However, Kevin's attacks were still faster and managed to strike closer to home, and as such, he was forcing Mario back with his flurry. Just then, the prince performed a side kick which caught Mario in the chest and sent him staggering backwards. Luigi was coming to support his brother when Kevin shoved out his hand and sent the two brothers flying backwards. They landed a few yards away, but were quick to rise and face the prince once again. Kevin quickly whipped out his wand and yelled, "It ends now, Mario Brothers!"

Kevin was about to fire a blast from his wand when he was attacked from behind. A Goomba with a blue cap jumped and barreled into the Koopa Prince from behind, causing the Koopa to stagger forward, knocking his wand off target. The wand fired two rings that sailed far to the left of the Marios, struck a rock and surrounded it as if the rings had been lariats. The Koopa Prince quickly recovered, though, and turned to face his ambusher. Seeing that his attacker was a Goomba, he grimaced. _Being taken off guard by a Goomba. I'll never live this down_. Looking at the Goomba a little more closely, he realized that the Goomba was Goombario, a comrade of Mario from when his father had taken the Star Rod. An idea then entered Kevin's mind. He knew that he could likely defeat the Marios in combat, but it would not have been without cost. However, with a hostage, he could force the Marios to surrender to him and a battle that might still be in doubt could become a clear victory in his favor. He grimaced at the prospect, though. He was winning the fight so far, and he had never liked using such underhanded tactics like hostage taking. However, he knew that while he was winning against Mario and Luigi, he might have trouble later on if Goombario supported them and made it a three-on-one battle. Two-on-one fights were difficult enough; a three-on-one fight would be almost impossible, especially if the fighters were all relatively even. As such, he knew that he had little choice, especially with the prospect of more of Mario's allies coming to aid him in the battle. He had to end the fight now. To that end, he pointed his wand towards Goombario and fired an energy ring. The Goombas attempted to dodge the blast, but Kevin used his magic to suspend the smaller Goomba, making him an easy target for the capture ring. The ring broke as it hit Goombario and the string then wrapped around the Goomba, reforming a ring. Kevin then levitated the Goomba into his hands and turned to face the Mario Brothers, who were fast approaching him.

When Mario and Luigi saw Goombario being held in Kevin's grasp, they stopped in their tracks. Kevin glared at them and called, "Surrender now or Goombario dies!" He abhorred having to use such tactics, but he felt as if he had little choice if he wanted to take down the Mario Brothers. While he knew that he could kill them easily enough under these conditions, he still wanted to at the very least obey the letter of his father's orders, if not the spirit. In order to do that, he could not kill the Marios.

"Wait!" Mario called out, holding out his hands.

"You know my demands," Kevin reiterated. "Surrender!" As if to accentuate his point, the prince tightened his grip on the Goomba, causing Goombario to grunt in pain.

Mario and Luigi looked over at each other and then judged the distance between them and Kevin. Given the Koopa's demonstrated speed and reaction time, they judged that they would be unable to cross the distance and save Goombario before Kevin crushed him, or did something else that resulted in their friend's likely death. "I'm waiting," Kevin called out in warning.

Mario then stepped forward a couple of steps, taking great care so as to not be appearing to be preparing an attack. He then called, "Kevin, if we surrender, what guarantee do we have that you won't kill Goombario?"

"You have my word," Kevin answered, bowing before the brothers, making sure to keep from lowering his eyes towards them, "that if you surrender, I will not harm Goombario in any way, or any other allies that may be coming to help you. But you know what will happen if you don't surrender." Kevin then held up Goombario once more to reiterate his threat.

The Marios looked over at Goombario with melancholy expressions on their faces. They said, "Sorry," as they stepped forward and bowed before Kevin. The brothers then knelt before the prince and told him, "We surrender."

Kevin replied, "I accept your surrender." He then pointed his wand at the two of them and fired a series of magic rings. The rings struck them and wrapped around the brothers, binding their hands and legs. Once they were bound, Kevin told them, "And now to hold up my end of the bargain."

The prince then released Goombario with a wave of his wand. With that wave, the magic ring that bound Goombario vanished. Goombario then did his best to try to help the Marios before Kevin fired another spell at him, levitating him into the air. The prince then told the Goomba, "The levitation spell will wear off once I leave with the Mario Brothers." He then turned to face the Mario Brothers and told them, "It's time. Today, you will be taken before my father. _He_ will decide your ultimate fate." With that, the Koopa Prince and the Mario Brothers vanished.

Goombario then fell to the ground. As he did so, several other allies of the Mario Brothers, most notably Kooper, a Koopa with a blue shell and a red handkerchief tied around his neck; Bombette, a pink Bob-omb with a yellow fuse, and a gray wind-up switch; and Bow, a greenish Boo with a pair of bows tied to her came onto the scene and found Goombario grunting. "What happened?" Kooper asked.

"Where's Mario?" Bombette finished.

"Kevin got 'em," Goombario answered, grunting in pain and humiliation, barely able to blink back tears. "And I'm the reason! I tried to help them, but Kevin captured me and they surrendered so he wouldn't kill me," the Goomba explained.

"I highly doubt that," Bow said, trying to comfort him. "You must have done your best against the most powerful fighter in the Koopa Kingdom.

"A lot of good that did," Goombario mumbled.

"Don't get so down," Bombette told him. "Right now, we have to get back to the castle and plan our next move. We won't abandon the Marios. They wouldn't abandon us if the situation were reversed."

"Yeah," Kooper agreed. "Bowser's not gonna like the fact that his oldest son did on his first try what he couldn't in ten whole years. Even if Kevin tries to get Bowser to kill them, chances are that good ol' Bowser will have the executions be public. That gives us some time to organize a rescue attempt."

"There has to be some people that Peach knows," Bow offered.

"And we've also got Parakarry, Watt, Sushie, and Lakilester to help us," Bombette said. "Along with anyone else that Peach calls over, we should be able to storm Bowser's new castle and save the Mario Brothers. They've been saving the Mushroom Kingdom for a long time, now it's our turn," she proclaimed.

"Right," the others agreed, nodding. The group then made their way down the mountain and rushed back to Princess Peach's Castle so they could gather the rest of Mario's allies and plan a rescue attempt.

Meanwhile, back at Bowser's Castle, Bowser had just gotten out of recovery and was going to meet his children. Bowser entered the large band room and found Ludwig directing a symphony consisting of Wendy and Roy on lead vocals, Lemmy on drums, Iggy on bass, with Larry and Morton playing trumpet and electric guitar respectively. Morton was also close to another microphone as well. Bowser Jr. was standing next to Morton and was another of the backup singers. The door soon opened and Bowser was standing on the other side and proceeded to enter the room. His abdomen was still covered in bandages and he still had a cast on his left arm. As the Koopa King entered the room, the Koopalings looked over at the door and when they saw him enter, they yelled, "King Dad!"

"Daddy!" Wendy squealed as she rushed over to her father and gave him a hug. Bowser grunted as she barreled into him and nearly knocked him over onto his back. Bowser managed to recover, though and gave a wide grin at the sight of his children. He noticed that Kevin was missing but did not think too much of it. His oldest son had always been the black sheep of the family and he was sure that Kevin was likely studying or preparing for his next mission in his quarters.

He then stared over at Ludwig and asked, "So, what are you kids doing with yourselves in here?"

"We're preparing a special performance, just for you, on your birthday," Ludwig and Wendy answered in unison.

Bowser's eyes shined at the mention of his birthday. "So you all remembered!"

The others nodded. "We sure did, Dad," Roy replied.

Wendy then went over to Bowser and told him, "Now just sit back and relax while we put on our performance."

Bowser did as he was directed and as soon as he was sitting back in his chair, the lights went out, save for a series of spotlights that shined on stage, focusing in on his children. It was then that the Koopalings began to sing a song that Bowser suspected was of a genre that Earth humans called heavy metal. He could not even begin to decipher the words that Wendy, Roy, Morton, and Bowser Jr. were singing; and he did not care. He just enjoyed seeing them dance and sing for him. The song lasted for over five minutes and while the guards could barely take the racket, for they considered the Koopalings' playing and singing to be torture, rather than music, they dared not flee the scene for fear of hurting the children's feelings and getting their father angry at them. As such, the guards had to tough it out until the end of the song.

After the five minutes had past, the song mercifully, for the guards, came to an end. After the song, Bowser applauded his children and called, "Encore, encore," bringing expressions of dread to the faces of the guards.

Before Bowser's children could begin the song anew, there came a knock at the door. Bowser grumbled at the sound of the knocking. He tried to ignore it, but the knocking persisted. Eventually, he rose and roared, "Enter!"

The door opened and a large box, easily capable of holding two of the Koopalings was moved into the room by a field of magical energy. Behind the box came Kevin, the Crown Prince of the Koopas. He breathed heavily as he entered. "Father," he said, genuflecting before Bowser, "I've been looking all over the castle for you."

"Well you've found me," Bowser replied gruffly. "You're late. Your siblings just put on a great performance. Where were you?"

"Getting your early birthday present," Kevin answered reverently, bowing before his father. "I think I managed to find something that fit you. I hope you like it."

Bowser looked down at the large box and asked, "What's inside?"

Kevin grinned as he took out his wand and sent out a stream of magic towards the top of the box. The top immediately came off and the sides of the box fell to the ground. Bowser's eyes went wide in shock as he saw the Mario Brothers appear in the confines of the box, golden rings of magic binding their arms, legs, and torsos. "Happy Birthday, Father," Kevin said with a smile. "I present to you the Super Mario Brothers, alive and relatively unharmed. They are yours to do with as you please," the prince said with a note of satisfaction, bowing before his father.

Bowser, the Koopalings, and the guards stared in amazement at the sight before them. "You captured them?" he asked, barely able to conceive of his son being able to accomplish such a feat on his own.

Kevin nodded. "It required a lot of preparation, and a good deal of luck, but yes, I managed to capture the Mario Brothers for you. Do you have any orders regarding what you want to have done to them? You can kill them now and end their threat forever," he offered. "Without them, Peach will be yours for the taking." Kevin could not help but smile smugly at that last statement. While Bowser's infatuation with Peach had merely started out as a marriage that would grant some legitimacy to his takeover of the Mushroom Kingdom, it had bloomed into all out lust for the princess. And now, he had the opportunity to take out his only competition once and for all. Bowser then looked down at his son and a mixture of pride and great fear entered his heart. He suddenly realized that Kevin had done what neither he, nor his other soldiers, including his other children, had been able to do in the last ten years. His oldest son had managed to defeat the Mario Brothers, and he knew that word of Kevin's feat would quickly reach the masses, if it had not already, and that scared him greatly. Kevin was very popular among the citizenry of the Koopa Kingdom and he was well known for his power. Now that he had shown himself to be able to defeat the Super Mario Brothers in combat, Bowser now feared that if Kevin wanted the throne, he could easily take it. The army would almost certainly support him if it came down to a fight. And if Kevin could defeat the Marios, then he could surely defeat his own father, who had only once beaten Mario, and not long after that battle, had nearly died at the hands of Mario. He needed to kill the Mario Brothers, yes, but he wanted to do it on his terms.

After considering what to do, he told Kevin, "Take them to the dungeon and lock them up. I want them taken to the deepest dungeon cell."

Kevin's eyes widened in surprise. "Father, you wish for them to be locked in the same room? Why not just…?"

"Yes! Now do it!" his father roared. "We don't have space for two prisoners to be placed in separate cells, so put them in the deepest cell for now. I'll consider how to execute them later. Right now, I want to listen to my other children sing again!" Suppressed groans could be heard coming from the guards and even Kamek.

Kevin could not help but scowl. Here he had captured the Mario Brothers so as to present them to his father for him to kill. But instead of killing them outright, his father was ordering him to take them to a dungeon while his allies would almost certainly be planning a rescue attempt. Still, he would not disobey his father, and thus, he replied, "Understood, Father." He then gripped his wand and levitated the Super Mario Brothers into the air and took them away to be locked in the deepest and darkest dungeon in the castle. He made certain to tell the Captain of the Guard in the dungeon to triple the normal guard for prisoners sent to the deepest dungeon cell. Kevin would not take any chances. He would not risk letting the Marios escape and disgrace his father even more than they already had. This was the kingdom's chance to get rid of one of its greatest enemies, and he would do everything he could to ensure that the Super Mario Brothers would die, once and for all.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Kevin took the Mario Brothers down the long, winding stairwell to the depths of the castle. As they descended further, the light grew less and less until it was almost pitch dark. Mario and Luigi looked ahead at the Koopa Prince as they were levitated down the staircase just in front of the Koopa Prince. As the darkness grew, Kevin produced a magical light from his wand, which functioned as a flashlight. After a while, the stairwell ended, indicating that they were on the lowest level of the castle. The prince then took Mario and Luigi down a long corridor. As he walked, the Mario Brothers looked around through the darkness and saw that the cells on this level were completely empty. Eventually, Kevin reached his desired destination. He went over to an unoccupied cell and pointed his wand over to it. It was a metal room with a single door with a small window. The door opened as soon as he pointed the wand at the door. After the door flew open, he swished his wand and the two humans flew through the door, landing on the metallic floor with a thud. With another movement of his wand, the energy rings that bound the two brothers disappeared, allowing them to move once more. As soon as the rings disappeared, the door swung closed and a loud clank echoed throughout the cell. Mario rushed to the door and punched it, but it would not budge, and it did not even dent. The plumber could only grimace. Kevin had done his homework. He must have known that there had been a time when Mario was "cursed" to be able to turn himself into paper and would have been able to slide between the bars. While the curse had worn off two years ago, the Koopa Prince was not taking any chances. Luigi went over to him and tried to comfort him, saying, "Don't worry. Peach and the others will save us."

"That's what worries me," Mario said in reply. "I know that Kevin will be thinking along those lines, and the last thing we need is to have our friends be captured as well. Besides, I think we may still be able to get out of this."

"How?" Luigi asked. From his vantage point, things did not look good for the two of them at the moment.

"We wait for Bowser to publicly execute us. I think that I can manipulate Bowser into giving us a chance for escape. It won't be a good chance, on paper, but I think that we can get it done."

"I hope your right," Luigi said, his voice not expressing much confidence. "Because the last thing I want to do is to have to fight Kevin again."

Mario nodded in agreement. While they both had a feeling that with their superpowers, they would put on a better showing in a subsequent battle against the Koopa Prince; they also knew that Kevin had been holding back, himself. There were several times in their last fight where the prince could have killed them if he had wanted to. They just hoped that Bowser would not take his oldest son's advice and execute them quickly. Oddly enough, their best chance for escape at the moment was Bowser.

Outside the cell, Kevin walked down the corridor until he came across a pair of Dark Koopatrol sentries that were on patrol throughout the corridor. He went over to them and told them, "Captain Patroopinator, I want your entire squadron stationed down here to guard the Marios. I don't want there to be any chance of them escaping."

"Understood, sire," the Captain of the Guard answered. "Should we arm ourselves with any special items?"

Kevin nodded. "Yes, do so. I will also be sending down additional guards as well, just in case it becomes necessary, but do arm yourselves with special weapons as well. We need to take every contingency into account."

The captain nodded once more. "Understood." The captain then bowed. Kevin saluted him and then went back the way he came and went over to the main tower. He wanted to hear what plans, if any, Peach and anyone else was hatching in order to try to rescue the Marios.

Back at Princess Peach's Castle, Princess Peach Toadstool paced anxiously back and forth on the second floor balcony of the main hall of her castle. Toadsworth stood by her and tried to calm her down, saying, "Don't worry about the Mario Brothers, Princess. They've fought tough enemies before and come through. This time will be no different."

"I hope you're right, Toadsworth," Peach responded. "I just can't shake the feeling that Kevin is a lot tougher than any of the other enemies that Mario and Luigi have faced before. I know that there have been stronger fighters, like the Shadow Queen or even Bowser when he was powered up by the Star Rod, but Kevin's different from them. He isn't nearly as arrogantly secure in their own power as they were. Kevin actually takes the time to plan his battles. He lured Mario and Luigi to _him_, rather than just take me to his father's castle and leave a bunch of minions for Mario to warm up against while he gloated over his victory."

"I understand," the elderly steward agreed. Like Peach, Toadsworth knew that Kevin had to have been planning something. The question in his mind was whether or not taking down the Mario Brothers was his endgame, or merely a means to an end.

Suddenly, Peach heard a knocking at the door to the castle. She rushed down the stairs to greet whoever was entering, assuming that it was a friend. The door opened before she arrived and Kooper, Bombette, and Lady Bow helped a hurt Goombario through the door. When Peach came over to meet them to see how things went, the gloomy expressions on the four friends' faces told her all she needed to know. "I failed," Goombario lamented. "Kevin managed to capture the Mario Brothers."

"Capture?" Peach asked. "Not kill?"

Goombario nodded.

"Then there's still hope!" Toadsworth shouted exuberantly.

"Hope?" Goombario scoffed. "Chances are that Kevin will merely present them to his father just before he kills them all."

"I'm not so sure about that," Kooper said thoughtfully. "I've been reading up a bit on Bowser, and if his oldest son is powerful enough to defeat the Mario Brothers in battle and capture them, then Bowser might not be so thrilled about his son's present."

"Why not?" Goombario and Bombette asked.

"Because Bowser'll view Kevin as a threat to his power," Bow answered for Kooper. This statement surprised Peach and the others greatly and they did not bother to hide their shock.

"Kevin, a threat to Bowser's power?" Bombette scoffed. "If Kevin always had the power to beat the Marios and he wanted to take his father's throne, then any battle would have already been fought; and it would have been no contest. He would have easily taken the throne. The Koopa Troop would have gladly followed someone like Kevin into battle. He won't waste his troops, unlike a certain Koopa King who currently reigns supreme in the Koopa Kingdom."

"I know," Kooper replied. "That's why I think that we may still have a chance to rescue them." The others then focused on the Koopa and he explained what he meant. "Kevin has always been extremely loyal to his father, treating Bowser like his father, rather than his king. But Kevin is also loyal to the Koopa Kingdom, specifically, its people. And every time Mario rescues Peach, or an attack on the Mushroom Kingdom is made, countless Koopas, Goombas, and other members of Bowser's army are killed; which results in Bowser merely drafting more and more Koopas, Goombas, Boos, etcetera, into the army…"

"Only to be killed in the next assault," Bombette finished.

"I can see why Bowser might not kill Mario and Luigi right away," Peach commented. "He wants to let everyone know that he actually has the power to kill the Mario Brothers in the hopes that anyone who would agitate for Kevin to try to take the throne would stay silent if they think that Bowser actually has the strength to kill the Marios."

As they were continuing to discuss the events of Mario's capture, Toad, Peach's faithful friend and retainer came charging into the main hall, panting as he reached her. He was dressed in a blue vest, white diaper-looking pants, and a white cap with red spots on it. He was also a close friend of the Mario Brothers and had been praying for Mario's safety. As he went over to Peach, he called out to her, "Princess! You've gotta come up to the conference room! Bowser's giving a speech to the entire Koopa Kingdom. He's got Mario and…"

"Yes Toad, we know," Peach told him glumly. "I just found out myself."

"Well Bowser's treating this like it's a national holiday for the entire Koopa Kingdom."

"But he hasn't killed them yet?" Goombario asked, hoping that the Koopa King would hold off on killing the Marios.

"No, not yet," Toad answered. "Come on, guys. We've still got a chance to see what his plans are." He then rushed over to the conference room, with Peach and the others right on his heels.

The group soon arrived at the conference room and entered. The interior of the room was painted white with a pink line outlining the ceiling above. There was a large table situated in the center of the room with eight chairs positioned around the table. Four Toads were already sitting in the seats, with Peach quickly taking one at the head of the table. Mounted on the wall in front of them was a large high definition television. On the television, the image of Bowser standing at a large podium, surrounded by eight of his children in clear sight with Kevin standing a ways off in the background. The Koopa King was already in the middle of his speech and the others listened to him as he was saying, "…and under my orders, my oldest son, Kevin, was able to enter the Mushroom Kingdom and capture our greatest enemies, Mario Mario, and Luigi Mario, collectively known as the Super Mario Brothers." Bowser then motioned for his oldest son to step forward, which he reluctantly did. The prince looked to be ill at ease standing in the spotlight. The cheers from the crowd could be heard and confetti rained down upon both Bowser and Kevin.

"Well, it looks like Bowser's already bending the truth," Toad said derisively.

Goombario nodded. "Yeah, there's no way that Bowser ordered Kevin to capture the Marios. If he had ordered Kevin to go after them, it would have been to kill them."

The others, however, motioned for Toad and Goombario to quiet down as they listened to the rest of Bowser's speech. The Koopa King soon continued, "With the capture of the Super Mario Brothers, our greatest enemies are finally under our heel. As such, I have scheduled a mandatory appearance by each and every Koopa in Koopa City outside of my castle three days from now. It is then that the Mario Brothers shall be publicly executed, so make plans to come. There will also be a kingdom-wide media blackout with the television and radio stations only covering the execution of the Marios. Today is truly a great day for the Koopa Kingdom, and three days from now will be a national holiday that will be celebrated in this wonderful kingdom for millennia to come."

With that, Bowser finished his speech and stepped down from the podium. Various Koopa news reporters shoved microphones in his faces and asked a barrage of questions, but the Koopa King merely made his way over to the rest of his family. As such, he left it to Kevin to answer all of the questions, since he was the one who captured the Marios. Before the others could listen to Kevin speak, the television screen went blank as one of the Toads turned it off.

"Well you heard him," Peach began. "We've got three days to come up with a rescue plan."

"A rescue plan?" Toad gasped. "Princess, Kevin just captured what amounts to our entire army! They're being held in the capital of the Koopa Kingdom in what is certainly going to be the most heavily defended of Bowser's castle! And chances are that they'll be expecting an attack. Heck, Kevin's probably beefed up security already. It'll be easy for Bowser to make it look like it was _his_ idea. There's no way that we'll manage to reach the castle in three days, and that's if we even had the ability to launch an invasion in the first place, which we don't."

"I know," Peach responded, looking downcast. "However, we can't just sit by and do nothing."

"We won't," Goombario declared. Kooper, Bombette, and Lady Bow then stepped forward to support Goombario.

"We're with you," they each said in unison. "And I can alert Parakarry as to what happened," Kooper offered.

"Yeah," Goombario blurted. "I also have kept in touch with Watt, Sushie, and Lakilester, too. With their help, we can send a rescue force to get back Mario and Luigi."

"Hey, don't leave me out of this," a young adult sounding voice burst in from the exit to the room.

The others turned and found a pinkish Goomba with a blond ponytail, dressed in a brownish hard hat with flashlight and a piece of clothing covering her torso with a red tie. "Glad you managed to make it so quickly, Goombella," Peach told her.

"Thanks for alerting us to the situation," Goombella responded. "Koops and the others should be arriving shortly, too."

Goombario took one look at the beautiful young Goomba that had entered and was instantly smitten. However, he did a good job of managing to hide his infatuation with her and merely asked, "Excuse me, ma'am, who are you?"

"I'm Goombella," the female Goomba answered. "I helped out Mario when he went on an adventure to Rogueport a couple years back."

"Hey, I remember you, now," Lady Bow called out. "You were with Mario when he visited Poshley Heights after the Shadow Queen was destroyed."

"Lady Bow, I take it," Goombella said, looking over at Bow. "Where's your butler?"

"Looking after the mansion," Bow responded.

"Ahem," Peach said, not so subtly telling them that they could catch up later. Now, they had to focus on making a plan to rescue Mario and Luigi.

After a few minutes, the other allies of Mario began to arrive. The first were the rest of Goombario's friends: Sushie, a Cheep-Cheep with a purple upper body and a tan underbelly, orange tail fins and dorsal fin, with white fins on her side; Watt, a yellow, sparking Li'l Sparky, a round yellow, sparking being with a pacifier-like plug in her mouth. Next came Parakarry, a Koopa Paratroopa and mail carrier with a blue shell and a brown airman's helmet and goggles, and a mail pouch on his side. The last of Goombario's acquaintances was Lakilester, a Lakitu who wore sunglasses, had a green spiked haircut, and rode a white cloud. As they entered, Lakilester asked, "So, what's the story?"

"Mario and Luigi were captured by Kevin Koopa," Goombario answered.

This caused Lakilester and Parakarry to raise their eyebrows. "Kevin?" they asked in unison. "Bowser's finally letting Kevin enter the fight?"

The others nodded solemnly. "Not exactly 'letting' him enter," Peach corrected. "Kevin entered the fight on his own accord."

It was not long before Goombella's friends arrived as well. Being led into the conference room by Toadsworth were Koops, a Koopa Troopa with a green shell who wore a sky blue hooded sweatshirt, blue shorts, and white shoes; Flurrie a female blue skinned wind spirit with wild blue hair similar in style to Ludwig von Koopa's, a golden necklace, green earrings, and golden bracelets; a young green Yoshi with a red mohawk and a piece of his yellow and white spotted egg covering his lower abdomen; Vivian, a female purple Shadow Spirit with a red and white striped hat, long pink hair, and white gloves; Admiral Bobbery, a Bob-omb with a long, gray mustache, a sailor's cap, and a mechanism that resembled a ship's wheel as a part of his back, which looked to serve the function of the normal wind-up switch that all other Bob-ombs possessed; and last but not least, Ms. Mowz, a Squeek, a being that resembled a mouse in form but also had two small arms along with two legs. Ms. Mowz wore a red mask over her eyes, wore red stockings over her legs, as well as having her long, thin tail curl into the shape of a heart. As the friends entered, they introduced themselves to one another so that they could all be acquainted before the group got down to business: the rescue of Mario.

Once they were all properly introduced, the group took the opportunity to watch Bowser's speech once more so they could all catch up on the current situation. Once the recording of the speech was finished, Princess Peach stood at the head of the table and called, "Okay, now that everyone's been caught up on the current situation, we all know the reason you were called here. We don't have a lot of time so I'll get right down to the point. We've got less than three days to get Mario and Luigi out of Bowser's Castle before they are executed. I know what I am asking for is dangerous. Yes, the Mario Brothers have been able to do what we are now forced to do in order to rescue them, but I also know that we are not the Marios. Not only that, but chances are that Kevin will likely be in charge of security. And even if he isn't officially in charge, you can bet that he'll be making some suggestions to both his father and to other guards on how to keep the Marios in. Still, we cannot let this execution go forward," she insisted. "The Super Mario Brothers have done so much for this kingdom, and for each and every one of you!" she proclaimed. "Now it is time for us to carry our own weight. We have to attempt a rescue!"

One of the Toads, a Toad guard with green spots on his head raised his hand and then spoke in a shaky voice, saying, "But you've already told us that Kevin's likely in charge of security at the castle. Unlike Bowser, Kevin's no fool. He knows what the deaths of the Marios means to both the Koopa Kingdom and to his father. There's no way we'll be able to storm the castle and get Mario. We'll be slaughtered!"

"Then we don't storm the kingdom," Vivian interrupted. The others then looked over at the Shadow Spirit. "As stated before, doing so would be suicide," she continued, "and it would take too long for such a mission to be accomplished given the numbers necessary. Instead, we infiltrate the Koopa Kingdom. There are a ton of spies in the Mushroom Kingdom. Look around," she told everyone as her eyes swept over all whom were present. They each did so and focused on one another. "We've got two Koopa Troopas and Goombas here. Of the Goombas, Goombella is recognizable due to being female and her distinctive ponytail, but if Goombario takes off his cap, then he's no different physically than any of the other Goombas in Bowser's army. As for the Koopa Troopas, here, we've got Kooper and Koops. Kooper has a blue shell and if he takes off his handkerchief, he'd be a dead ringer for any one of Bowser's Blue Koopa Troopas. Koops could also pass for one of Bowser's minions if he takes off his hoodie and shirts."

The blue Toad was unconvinced. "It's one thing to look like a member of Bowser's army," the Toad said. "It's another to actually be able to infiltrate the Koopa Troop and actually get to Bowser's Castle. Security will be tight. No one from the outside save for Koopatrols will likely be allowed inside the castle, itself."

"True," Vivian admitted.

"That shouldn't be too hard for us," Koops proclaimed. "There are a lot of Koopas in Bowser's army. All we really need to do is look the part and act it as well. Kevin can't be everywhere at once. All we need to do is look and act the part so we can get close to the castle. Bow can turn invisible and get a map of the castle for us, assuming it's all that hard to navigate."

"Even better is the fact that I could find out Mario's location and get him out of the cell," Bow added.

"That might be better for me to do," Vivian suggested. "I can take Mario into the shadows, and I've gotten better at taking things, and people, with me in the shadows as well since my last adventure with him."

"So, where do we stand?" Goombario asked.

"You all will be guards and pass off our credentials should we be stopped for whatever reason," Vivian replied.

"It sounds like a plan," Goombella added.

"I see only one problem," Peach commented. "What do those of you who are more recognizable do? I mean, Vivian and Bow can keep to the shadows and avoid detection, but what about people like Lakilester, Bombette, or Bobbery? Even Flurrie will be recognized by Bowser's troops, to say nothing of Sushie being completely out of her element."

"We'll provide the distraction," Bombette replied. "We are, as you have said, Princess, too easily recognized. Bowser's forces would be on us in an instant. We can use this to our advantage, though, during the escape attempt. We could divert a large number of Bowser's troops away from Mario and Luigi and allow Bow and Vivian to enter. They're already strong enough to take on and defeat any resistance that they may encounter short of Kevin. And the two of them together might just be enough to cause the Koopa Prince some concern."

"Thanks," Vivian said, blushing.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I'd rather not have to test my mettle against someone like Kevin without some help," Bow said, though she, too, was pleased at the vote of confidence from Bombette.

"Of course, you would have to remain behind, Princess," Toadsworth told Peach before anyone else could make the suggestion, or Peach decided to volunteer herself to be part of the decoy group.

"What?" Peach blurted.

"He's right," Flurrie stated plainly. "While you'd definitely be a tremendous decoy, Kevin and some of the other higher-ranking generals would know for certain that there was a big plan if _you_ were part of the decoy mission."

"I've been taking some lessons since my last kidnapping," Peach countered. "I can fight."

"I know you can," the Wind Spirit responded. "But secrecy is the key, here. We have to divert the guards away for as long as it takes Vivian and Bow to get Mario and Luigi out of that castle."

"And who better to divert Bowser's forces than me?" the Princess asked.

"And what better way to tell Kevin that we've got a huge rescue plan going on than to have you lead a rescue attempt," Goombella countered. "Guys and gals like me can get away with it. We're known fighters and known to be independent. Bowser's goons wouldn't bat an eye at one of us leading a one-person rescue attempt of Mario and Luigi. You, on the other hand…" she left the statement unfinished, but Peach knew exactly what she meant. And she could not deny the fact that Goombella was right. As much as she was loathe to admit it, her presence on the rescue team would merely be a hindrance to them and increase the chances of failure.

Eventually, the Princess acquiesced to the others' wishes and said, "Fine. I'll stay behind. But if things go wrong, I'll be coming to the rescue."

The others had no problem with that, and replied, "Fine by us."

"Stay alert, Princess," Koops told her, "I can see a lot of ways that this can go wrong."

"One more thing," Toadsworth added. "What about extraction?"

"That shouldn't be too hard for us," Kooper replied. "We can just hijack one of Bowser's Clown Cars or one of the smaller airships if needed."

The group then discussed amongst themselves who would be in charge of what during the rescue mission. It was already agreed that Lady Bow and Vivian would be the ones to get Mario and Luigi out of their cells and to an airship or Clown Car that they could then use to escape the kingdom. Kooper, Koops, Parakarry, and Goombario would take the role of members of Bowser's army and infiltrate the castle with their disguises. It would not be difficult for the party to find a Spiked Goomba spy and take his helmet and give it to Goombario to complete his outfit. As for Koops and Kooper, they already looked the part. A change of clothing would make them almost impossible for an outsider to tell apart from any one of the rank and file members of the Koopa Troop. The same thing could also be said of Parakarry. The final group in this mission consisted of Goombella, Bombette, Sushie, Lakilester, Watt, Flurrie, Bobbery, Yoshi Kid, and Ms. Mowz. They would be the ones to distract the guards. Goombella looked over at Ms. Mowz and could not shake the feeling that the Squeek might try to use this opportunity to attempt to steal a valuable item from Bowser's Castle. She shook off the thought. If anything, that might actually help their cause. Once the discussions had concluded, they proceeded to leave the conference room and make the necessary preparations for the rescue attempt of the Mario Brothers.

Meanwhile, back in Bowser's Castle, on the lowest level of the castle, Mario and Luigi sat on metal pallets inside their cell. Mario was hard at work trying to see if there were any secret exits by checking the room's metallic walls for any signs of weakness or any lines that might indicate a secret panel of some sort. Luigi, however, merely sat in the cell, staring at the ceiling. He did not look it, but he was busy contemplating the possibility of escape. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind. All of his scenarios ended with Kevin finding them out and defeating them in battle. After all, it would be easy for him to justify killing the Super Mario Brothers if they were found trying to escape. Eventually, Mario went back over to Luigi, defeated. "Did you find anything?" Luigi asked his older brother.

Mario shook his head. "No. This cell's locked up tight. Whoever designed this dungeon did a really good job."

"Ten bucks says it was Kevin," Luigi quipped.

Mario smiled at his brother's attempt at humor. "No bet there," he answered. He then looked downcast. "Yeah, there's no way we're getting out of here short of someone else breaking us out before our execution."

That then gave Luigi an idea. "Then we'll just have to wait for the execution to make our move," he said, knowingly.

Mario looked over at him questioningly. "What do you mean?"

The younger brother gave a soft chuckle. "We've got the perfect scenario to allow us to escape," Luigi told him. "Bowser, himself."

Mario then realized where Luigi was going and his spirits lifted. Indeed, if Luigi was right, then they were not out of this yet, not by a long shot.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Goombario and Vivian waited in the shadows along a small dirt road that led to Goomba Village. The local gang of Goombas that stood just outside the village, terrorizing the peaceful inhabitants of the village who dared to venture outside the gates of the small village, were all loyal to Bowser and had taken quite a hit after Bowser had been defeated by Mario after claiming the Star Rod. Ever since then, the gang had suffered a large rate of attrition due to operations performed by Goombas like Goombario. Many of the members had either been arrested, killed, or drafted into Bowser's army in one of the numerous subsequent attacks on the Mushroom Kingdom, only to meet their end at the hands of Mario. Still, the remnants of the gang still had its uses for Bowser, though. They made decent spies and could give the Koopa King a pulse on the feelings of the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. Their numbers, however, had dwindled to the point where there were only a handful of gang members left. Goombario hoped that after today, that number would be reduced to zero.

Backing up Goombario and Vivian were the Toad Brigade, a group of Toads led by Toad, Peach's retainer and a close friend of Mario's. They stood at the side of the road, hiding behind a tree, looking on anxiously, hoping that Vivian and Goombario would deal with the troublemakers as quickly as possible so they could arrest them, assuming they survived the fight with Vivian and Goombario. They were there to arrest the remnants of the gang once Goombario and Vivian had dealt with them, assuming the Goombas survived. Both Goombario and Vivian knew that a single Fiery Jinx would make short work of these Goombas. The Shadow Spirit only had to ensure that she rendered the unfortunate Goombas, Spiked Goombas, and Paragoombas unconscious, rather than use the technique at full power and kill them. Goombario needed one of the Spiked Goombas' helmets to help him infiltrate the Koopa Kingdom and get him access to Bowser's Castle.

The gang members soon appeared, walking down the dirt road as if they had owned the entire path leading out of Goomba Village and heading into Toad Town. There were six Goombas, the leader being a Spiked Goomba, a Goomba who wore a green helmet with a gray spike on it, which not only protected him from being jumped on by other Goombas and people like Mario or Luigi, but also to increase the damage done when _he_ jumped on an opponent. As soon as the Goombas approached, Vivian and Goombario emerged from the shadows and stood directly in front of the Goombas. The leader took one look at the pair and laughed as he stepped forward. "Man, it looks like we've got a real cute couple in front of us." Moving alongside Vivian, he then offered, "Why don'tcha ditch the dork there and come along with us, baby."

Vivian gave a giggle at the Goomba's attempt to seduce her, but was not a cheerful or innocent giggle. It was derisive and indicative of the fate that the Goomba would soon suffer if he did not heed the Shadow Spirit's dark warning, "You should get back, now."

Vivian's boldness took the Spiked Goomba aback. Frowning, he then asked, "Man, what's your problem, babe? We just wanna have some fun, ya'know."

"Surrender now!" Toad and the rest of the Toad Brigade cried as they emerged from behind the tree. "You are under arrest for being spies for the Koopa Kingdom, theft, extortion, assault and battery, and other crimes."

The Spiked Goomba and the rest of the gang merely laughed at the Toad Brigade's proclamation. "Yeah, you and what army?" the leader asked haughtily. He did not notice Vivian twirl her right index finger around. Once she had made a circle in the air, each of the Goombas in the gang burst into flames. She made certain to keep set her Fiery Jinx on low power so as to not risk damaging the helmet of the Spiked Goomba. Goombario would need it. As the Goombas were set on fire, they ran around, issuing cries of pain and protest. Their suffering would not last, though, for just as quickly as the flames had appeared, they vanished. As they vanished, the Goombas each fell to the floor, smoking and burned, but still alive. Vivian then went over to the Spiked Goomba and took off his helmet. Once she had done this, she turned to the Toad Brigade and said, "They're all yours."

As the Toad Brigade was arresting them, Vivian and Goombario left the scene, walking back towards Peach's Castle. As they were walking away, the badly burned former Spiked Goomba called over to the Shadow Spirit in a weak voice, calling, "Wait! We never had our date. Would you at least visit me in prison?"

Vivian and Goombario paid no heed to the Goomba as they left and went back to the castle. As they were walking, Vivian said, "Mission accomplished," in a satisfied tone, handing the green spiked helmet to Goombario, who placed it on his head. Once they were finished, the pair went back to Princess Peach's Castle, so they could begin carrying out their plan to rescue Mario and Luigi.

Back at Princess Peach's Castle, Vivian and Goombario made their way into the castle's main hall. Standing in the main hall were Peach, Toadsworth, as well as the rest of the rescue force. Goombario soon went over to join Kooper, Koops, and Parakarry, who was now without his traditional flight helmet and goggles, and mail sack. Vivian went over to Lady Bow. They would have an easy time infiltrating the Koopa Kingdom. Since they were a Shadow Spirit and ghost respectively, they could easily get in unspotted by anyone. The only issue would be the Magikoopas that would be on guard around Bowser's Castle. It was hoped that the diversionary attack would either distract them or actually cause them to abandon their posts and follow after Goombella and the other attackers.

It was not long before a Toadette, a Toad with pink spots on her mushroom cap and long pink hair tied into two ponytails came into the castle lugging a large trunk. The rescue team soon went over to the suitcase as she presented it to them. "It took some doing, but the Item Shops in Toad Town was willing to help us out in the rescue of the Mario Brothers. They gave me everything that this trunk could carry."

She opened the trunk and showed them the contents. Inside were Fire Flowers, Hammer Suits, Raccoon Leaves, a Tanooki Suit, Life Mushrooms, Thunder Rages Ice Storms, Shooting Stars, Egg Missiles, Deluxe Feasts, etcetera. "I also got Tayce T. to whip up some useful battle items and healing items as well," she added, noting the presence of Egg Missiles and Deluxe Feasts. The party grinned at the sight of the items.

"You know, with this stuff, we might be able to rescue Mario and Luigi the old fashioned way," Goombario said, taking an Ice Storm and a Shooting Star and put them in his pocket.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Goombella warned. "If we do this the old fashioned way, then we'd likely have to go up against Kevin, himself. And that's before we'd have to face off against Bowser and his other children."

"Kevin's more powerful than Bowser's other children, though," Kooper stated.

"Which is why I want to do my best to avoid a fight with him," Goombella retorted. "Our best chance for success lies in making it so that the Koopa Kingdom doesn't suspect a thing until Mario and Luigi are already back in the Mushroom Kingdom. If they detect us as we're making the attempt, then we'll be joining Mario and Luigi in the dungeon…if we're lucky," she added ominously.

The others nodded. They all knew the risks, but they also knew that this was the best chance they had at saving Mario and Luigi. Each of the party members took as many items as they could hold, including at least one healing item, with some of them taking two or even three, just in case things went wrong during the rescue or Kevin happened to show up and they had to fight their way to Mario and Luigi, and out again. Once they had gained the necessary items, the party then broke off into the three groups. Lady Bow and Vivian stood to the side while Goombario, Kooper, Koops, and Parakarry each went off and tried to do their best to make themselves look like members of the Koopa Troop, right down to their mannerisms and expressions. Once they had satisfactorily made themselves look like minions of Bowser, they proceeded to leave the castle ahead of the others. Their part was one of the more important parts of the plan to rescue the Marios. That left the rest of the party alone to wait for all of the information they could gather on Bowser's Castle before the time came to launch the rescue attempt.

Several hours passed, and Goombario, Kooper, Koops, and Parakarry were making their way across the border of the Mushroom Kingdom, into the Koopa Kingdom. They did their best to look wary, as if they were trying to evade detection by any Mushroom Kingdom military forces, but in reality, they were really trying to get as far as they could into the Koopa Kingdom without being stopped by any routine patrol. The closer they got to the castle, the better off they would be. Kooper and Koops both carried spears that they had acquired from the Mushroom Kingdom armory that had once belonged to enemy Koopa Troopas. Each of the friends knew that this would likely be the most difficult part of the mission besides the actual rescue attempt that would be made by Bow and Vivian. If something went wrong, the whole plan would be doomed to failure.

The quartet soon came to a river that was about a hundred meters wide. A narrow wooden bridge served as the only means of transportation across the bridge. The river was a border between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom. The group scanned the bridge to see if there were any sentries, of either kingdom, patrolling the bridge or close to it. Surprisingly, they found none. As such, the quartet crossed the bridge without incident. As they reached the other side, and the shore of the Koopa Kingdom, Goombario then asked warily in a quiet tone, "Okay, does anyone else think that that is a little too easy?"

The others did not say anything, but they nodded slightly. Each and every one of them could not help but think that they were all being led into one big ambush. Still, as they continued, they encountered no Koopas, or any members of the Koopa Troop for that matter. Still, they were careful to appear as if they knew where they were going. However, the only one who really knew his way around was Parakarry, since he had once delivered letters to Mushroom Kingdom spies and defectors from the Koopa Kingdom on occasion. Goombario also had a passing knowledge of the kingdom, but he was quick to note that the kingdom had changed greatly from what little he had learned about it in the past. As such, the Koopa Paratroopa took the lead, with Goombario following closely behind, with Kooper and Koops bringing up the rear.

As they gazed around the environment, they could not help but notice that the Koopa Kingdom looked far bleaker than the bright and cheery Mushroom Kingdom. The sky was getting quite dark, despite there still being several hours of daylight left. Looking into the sky, they found dark clouds hovering over them. However, they had a feeling that no rain would fall from the clouds. They then gazed off into the distance and found a great deal of mountains and pools of lava. The party suspected that the mountains were actually volcanoes, and that some of them were still active. They soon came upon a series of mountains and they had to follow a path through a small ravine that split the mountain range.

Here, they finally encountered some members of Bowser's army. Koopa Troopas and Goombas looked down from their guard posts at the approaching party. As they passed by the sentries, the Koopas saluted the party. The party returned their salutes, looking up at each of the sentries as they continued. They hoped that their gazes did not arouse any of the Koopas' suspicions, but they could not afford to worry too much about that at the moment. They had to reach Bowser's Castle as quickly as possible so as to find Mario and Luigi and relay the information back to Vivian and Bow. As they were continuing down the path through the ravine, the sound of what resembled helicopter engines grew louder and louder. The group looked up and saw an airship passing over them. The ship looked just like a seagoing vessel, only it had numerous rotors on its back and underside. Looking over the railing down at the party and the sentries were several Magikoopas, not the least of which was Kammy Koopa, an old female Magikoopa with gray hair, a purple robe and witch's hat. She was also armed with a golden magic wand with a round red head. At the sight of Kammy and the Magikoopas, the party practically froze. As the airship was passing by, they noticed that the gazes of the Magikoopas were focused on them and were not wavering. Their hearts began to fill with dread. Had they been identified? If anyone would be able to identify the party members before they reached the castle, besides Kevin, it would have been a Magikoopa. Their magic may have allowed them to see the truth of who the party members were. After all, Kammy Koopa had managed identify Peach when she had been using the Sneaky Parasol, and umbrella that allowed Peach to appear as anyone the Parasol could copy.

Despite the watchful gaze of the Magikoopas, the party continued on its way, trying to look as natural as possible. They attempted to make their gazing at the airship looking like a group of young solders gawking at such a magnificent feat of engineering, rather than them studying the opposition to see whether or not they would have to hightail it out of the Koopa Kingdom as fast as they could and tell Bow and Vivian that they were on their own when it came to searching for the Mario Brothers. Eventually, Kammy and the others withdrew back into the ship and the airship sailed off into the distance and continued on its patrol of the kingdom. Parakarry and the others breathed a sigh of relief as the airship departed and they soon noticed a large castle that had a distinctive spiked Koopa shell shape off in the distance. It was Bowser's Castle. Evidently, this one was closer to the border with the Mushroom Kingdom than the others had been. Without any hesitation, the party immediately marched towards the castle, doing their best to look like veterans in the Koopa Troop.

When they arrived at the castle's outer gates, they were stopped by a team of four Koopatrols. The quartet was surprised to find this many guards on the outer perimeter of the castle. They took this as a sign that Kevin was in charge of security; that, or Bowser was finally becoming smarter about bringing in powerful security forces. As they were stopped, one of the Koopatrols stepped forward and demanded, "State your name, rank, and service numbers now."

The four took a deep breath. They had suspected that such information would be requested of them and thus, they were glad to have gathered information on some of the Koopas that had been injured, captured, or killed in the last attack on the Mushroom Kingdom. Parakarry stepped forward first and answered, "I'm Colonel Parabonk, service number zero-one-alpha."

Next was Kooper. "I'm Captain Koopaz, service number one-two-beta."

After Kooper came Koops. "The rank and name's Lieutenant Kooz," he said coolly. "The service number's zero-eight-delta."

Finally, Goombario stepped forward. "I'm Corporal Goompo, service number zero-two-epsilon."

The guard then pulled out a device that resembled a Nintendo DS and flipped it open. After inputting a series of commands, the images and personal information of the quartet that was standing before him appeared. Matching it with what each of the "soldiers" had said, he found that the information checked out. Powering down the device, closing it, and putting it back in his uniform, he said, "Okay, it looks like your information checks out. You guys may pass. You've undoubtedly heard about the executions that are gonna take place two days from now, right?"

The party nodded.

"Excellent," the guard said, elated. "Make certain that you guys keep a close eye on the castle. If the Mario Brothers' allies are gonna make a move, they'll make it within the next couple of days."

"We hear ya," Parakarry responded.

"Here are your duty assignments," the Koopatrol said, handing each of the party members a piece of paper detailing their stations, duties, and commanding officers. "Just so you know, Kevin's the Chief of Security of the castle. He has final authority over any and all assignments and regulations.

"Understood," they each said in unison. They managed to suppress a frown upon hearing that Kevin was in charge of security inside the castle.

The party walked through the gate and appeared on the castle grounds. As was expected, they found a large number of Koopas and Goombas on patrol. Most of the Goombas were Spiked Goombas, with most of them being either Gloombas, dark blue/gray Goombas, or Spiked Gloombas. Kevin was pulling out all the stops. Whatever Bowser had planned for the executions of the Mario Brothers, his oldest son was doing his utmost to make sure that everything went off without a hitch.

"I don't like the looks of this," Goombario said ominously.

"Me neither," Kooper echoed. "Kevin's preparing for something."

"Probably us," Parakarry stated. "He's no fool. He knows that we're planning something. He might know that it's us, personally, but he knows that Mario's friends are planning a rescue attempt."

"Then we don't have much time," Koops stated. "We've gotta learn the location of Mario and transmit the layout of the castle and the Marios' location to Peach's Castle before the execution.

"Then let's get down to business," Parakarry stated.

The party then split up and went over to their assigned stations. Parakarry went over to one of the taller perimeter guard towers and took his position on top of the tower, along with three other Koopa Paratroopas, looking out over the castle and the surrounding area. The first thing that Parakarry noted was that this castle was one of the few castles that Bowser had resided in that was not surrounded by lava. The field surrounding the castle, however, was still devoid of any life, save for any troops that were still arriving to bolster the castle's defenses. One of the Paratroopas looked over at Parakarry and said, "Well, looks like the new guy arrived."

"Yeah," another one said. Siding up next to Parakarry, he said, "I think that you'll like being assigned here. Kevin's a much better commander than anyone else in the whole kingdom, even Bowser. We won't be thrown away like cannon fodder grunts the way Bowser does with so many of his other troopers, even the more elite, and non-replicable Hammer Bros. and Magikoopas."

"I see," Parakarry replied nervously. "Well, I've had a couple tours of duty, so I'll be ready for whatever we have to go up against."

"That's the spirit," the first Paratroopa blurted, slapping Parakarry on the shell. "I think you'll fit in fine."

Parakarry gave a smile as he took his station and continued to look out over the landscape and the castle, subtly taking notes on the positions of the guards in various other guard towers and, when the time came, when relief would come for the next shift. He used a pocket-sized camera and data recorder to take pictures of the castle and the town, while also making certain to make notes as to what parts of the castle each picture represented. Whenever one of the others talked to him, he merely said that he was taking detailed looks around to make sure that there were no blind spots that the enemy could use to sneak into the castle. That explanation seemed to satisfy the curiosity of the others, for the moment. Still, Parakarry was concerned that one of the Paratroopas might report what he was doing to Kevin, just to be sure that he was not doing anything unauthorized. Still, that worry did not stop the Koopa Paratroopa from completing his part of the mission.

Meanwhile, Goombario made his way over to the main storage room. He found the entrance to the room and entered. Inside the room was a large supply of healing items like Ultra Shrooms, Jammin' Jellies, Jelly Ultras, Life Shrooms, along with battle items like Fire Flowers, Thunder Bolts, Thunder Rages, Ice Storms, Shooting Stars, etcetera. The castle turned out to be stocked to the gills. Standing near a small bench was a normal Goomba. When the Goomba saw Goombario, he jumped for joy. "Finally," he exclaimed, "my relief has arrived." He ran over to Goombario and said, "Thanks for comin'. I don't know what I would have done if I had to stay here another minute."

"Glad I could help," Goombario answered unsteadily, surprised at how bright this Goomba's personality was at the relief of his duty.

The Goomba then ran towards the door but before he left, he stopped for a moment and turned back to Goombario, stating, "Hey, new guy. Just so you know, Prince Kevin stored some items here a few hours ago. He might be comin' to pick them up during your shift."

This caused Goombario to become nervous, but he did not show his unease. He merely called back, "Okay, where are the items that Prince Kevin stored?"

The Goomba shrugged. "Heck if I know. I wasn't exactly in sober when he came to store them. I think that they're in some crate back there in the storage compartment." With that, the Goomba left. Goombario grumbled as the door closed and he was left alone. The primary concern he had now was if Kevin came here to claim his stored items, he might manage to identify Goombario; and he did, then their entire plan would fall apart.

Elsewhere, Kooper and Koops were patrolling the castle as part of a squadron whose duty was to patrol the castle to ensure that there were no intruders or any unauthorized personnel in secure areas. As they were walking, they heard the squad leader begin talking with the others. "Man, Kevin must really be worried about the threat of rescue for the Mario Brothers if he's having several squadrons patrol the castle all at the same time."

"Maybe he has a reason to be," one of the other Koopa Troopas, one in a green shell responded sagely.

"I can't see why," the leader responded. "I mean, it's not like Peach is gonna launch a rescue attempt if she knows what's good for her."

"But Mario has other allies as well," the other Koopa countered. "He's got a couple of Goombas, a Boo, two Koopa Troopas and Bob-ombs, a Shadow Spirit, Wind Spirit, a Lakitu; the list goes on. Those guys can actually put up a fight and inflict some serious damage if they were to launch an attack on the castle."

"Against rank and file troopers maybe," the leader retorted. "But against guys like Bowser, Bowser Jr., Kevin, and the other Koopalings, don't count on it."

The two continued to argue as Kooper and Koopa continued to listen. Eventually, the discussion changed towards the concern that Mario and Luigi might try to escape, themselves. "I think that we should be wary of having the Marios attempt an escape," the argumentative Koopa stated.

"Yeah, and this coming from the guy who's concerned about Mario's allies from the Star Rod and Rogueport incidents comin' to save their hero," the squadron leader retorted arrogantly. "Look, you must be new, so I'll keep it simple for the two of you. There's no way that anyone's gonna reach the deepest dungeon in the castle. There is also no way that the Mario Brothers will escape their confinement. They're stuck inside a steel cage with a door that only has a single transparent window. They're only given a single meal per day and they've got two Dark Koopatrol sentries guarding the cell, itself, with another squadron patrolling the area. No one can get down there without authorization. There's no way a handful of Goombas, Koopa Troopas, and a bit of other rabble will make it into the castle, let alone actually manage to make it all the way down to the deepest dungeon in the castle and get past the squadron of Dark Koopatrols, the two Koopatrols guardin' the Marios and actually get them out of the castle."

The other Koopa Troopa had to admit that the leader had a point. He just did not like the fact that his commander was so arrogantly presumptuous that Mario and Luigi would not be able to escape. Kevin was doing his best to ensure that they did not escape, but he was already coming up with contingency plans on the off chance that the Marios _did_ manage to escape and fight their way past the first set of guards. Still, he did not argue with his commanding officer any further. He would merely alert Kevin to his commanding officer's arrogance and unwillingness to listen to reason and let Kevin deal with him later.

As the day went on, the quartet gathered all of the information on the castle that they could without arousing the suspicion of their commanding officers or others inside the castle. It did not take long for them to acquire an accurate map of the castle that they could send to Bow and Vivian so they could take the most direct route to Mario and Luigi's cell. Not only that, but Parakarry was able to get a rough estimate of the amount of Koopas that they might have to fight against in the castle. The number that he had come up with was somewhere on the order of ten thousand enemy soldiers, not counting Bowser, his children, Kamek, and Kammy. In addition, Koops and Kooper were able to get information on patterns of the patrols that roamed throughout the castle. They also gave the locations of the emergency hangar bays and of Bowser's quarters, as well as the quarters of the Koopalings and Kevin in the process, if for no other reason so that they could avoid going anywhere close to Kevin if at all possible. The quartet was quite concerned that if they ever came face to face with the Koopa Prince, that he might be able to identify them, or at least place them as not being members of the Koopa Troop. Once the four friends had gathered the information, the downloaded it to a small hand-held computer and transmitted it to Bow, Vivian, and the others.

Back at Peach's castle, the information that Goombario, Kooper, Koops, and Parakarry had acquired on Bowser's new castle appeared on the large screen in the conference room. Images of the castle, its map, as well as dossiers on the types of guards that the friends might encounter also appeared. Soon, the voice of Goombario rang in over the speakers, asking, "Did you get all of it?"

Peach flipped through the images once more as she confirmed, "We got it. Thanks, now do your best to blend in. We don't need you guys to be captured just before the rescue plan is launched."

"Got it," the quartet said in unison. The link was then terminated.

After the link was terminated, Peach turned to Toadsworth and commanded, "Make copies of this information to give to everyone here. They'll be needing it for the plan to have the highest chance of success." Then, turning to the rest of Mario's friends and comrades, she said, "I guess that you'll be wanting to move out as quickly as possible."

"We'll begin moving at midnight," Goombella told her. "That should allow us to reach Bowser's Castle at first light, leaving us a full day at the very least before Mario and Luigi's execution."

"Well, be careful, and take all of the items you need. We need this to be done quickly and successfully. If you have any trouble at all, call us. We'll come running to help."

"We will," the female Goomba assured her. The group then proceeded to get some rest before making the rescue attempt on Mario and Luigi.

On the next morning, just before sunrise, in Bowser's Castle Goombario went over to the storage room to begin his duty shift. He was surprised that Kevin had not appeared to take the items that he had stored there. He was thankful, though, that the prince had not come during his shift, for he strongly suspected that the prince would have easily made him. He soon went around, taking a full inventory of the items that were in storage. As he was taking the inventory, he noticed that none of the items were missing and that the compartments were still full. This caused the Goomba some concern, since it indicated that Kevin had not picked up any of the items he had supposedly stored in this room.

Goombario soon heard the door creak open and a large figure soon entered. He was dressed in the black robes of what looked to be an Elite Magikoopa, but he was noticeably larger than any Magikoopa Goombario had ever seen. A feeling of dread came over Goombario as the "Magikoopa" removed his hood and revealed himself to be Kevin, Bowser's oldest son. "P…P…P…Prince Kevin," the Goomba stammered, trying to lower himself before the prince so as to look like he was kneeling.

The prince looked down at Goombario and got right down to business, asking, "Do you have the items I stored in this room yesterday?'

"Yeah, sure," Goombario replied unsteadily. The Goomba began to quake in fear, since he did not know where the items Kevin had stored down here were, or what Kevin had actually stored. "Uh, forgive me, my prince, but I'm new here, so may I ask what exactly you stored down here yesterday? Yesterday was my first day and I took one of the late shifts."

Kevin gave a kindly smile and replied, "Certainly. I stored a Fire Flower, Super Mushroom, Thunder Rage, and a Tanooki Suit."

"Thanks," Goombario replied brightly. "I'll get them for you in a jiffy." The Goomba then went back into the storage area and searched for Kevin's items. He found a large number of Fire Flowers, Super Mushrooms, and Thunder Rages, but only one Tanooki Suit. He took the Tanooki Suit and then searched to see if there were any indicators of which Fire Flower, Super Mushroom, or Thunder Rage was Kevin's. Each of the items had a different marker, so Goombario decided to compare the markers on the items to the one on the Tanooki Suit. Unfortunately, there was no mark on the Tanooki Suit at all, which prompted Goombario to sweat. He looked back over at Kevin, who was waiting patiently, but seemed to be studying the Goomba very carefully. Eventually, Goombario decided to take a Fire Flower, Super Mushroom, and Thunder Rage that had the same markings on them, hoping that they were the items that Kevin had stored. At least he had a good excuse should Kevin tell him that he got the wrong items.

After picking up the items and putting them in a sack, he went back over to Kevin and informed him, "I've got your items right here, Prince Kevin." He then handed them over to the prince.

After receiving the items, the Koopa Prince examined them very carefully. After a moment, he said, "The Fire Flower, Super Mushroom, and Thunder Rage aren't mine. They belong to someone else. The Tanooki Suit, however, _is_ mine." Goombario did not know why Kevin was saying this, or how he could tell whether or not the items were his. Kevin then gave his explanation, "My items don't have any markers on them. It is a tradition of the Koopa Royal Family." Kevin then stared down at the Goomba suspiciously. The Goomba's heart began to sink. He feared that Kevin knew who he was. He would have to think fast to get out of this predicament.

"Well, sir, I am new here," Goombario answered waveringly. "Neither the guy I relieved, nor my relief, told me about that little tradition."

Kevin gave a humph. "I know, but you would have known of it if you came to the orientation earlier yesterday," Kevin told him in a low voice.

"As I said, sir, I'm new here."

Kevin, however, was becoming increasingly suspicious of the Goomba standing in front of him. "Tell me your rank, name, and show me your standard ID card now," the prince commanded.

"My rank and name are Corporal Goompo," Goombario answered. "As for my ID, I left it back in my quarters. I didn't know I would need them down here while I was on duty. I'll go back to my quarters to go get it."

"You don't," Kevin answered. "You only need your military ID while on duty, which would be provided to you by your commanding officer. Anyone who serves in the military would know that, even a draftee." Kevin then leaned down towards Goombario, revealing his wand. "Now tell me, who are you?"

"I'm Corporal Goompo," Goombario answered.

"No you're not," Kevin answered as he then fired a blast of energy from his wand. Immediately, Goombario's spiked helmet disappeared and a blue cap appeared in its place. Kevin instantly recognized the Goomba as he said, "Goombario."

Goombario held his breath as Kevin knelt down next to him and fired another spell, this one a paralyzing spell. Goombario attempted to move but try as he might, he was unable to do so. Kevin then brought him to his face so that their eyes could meet directly. "You will tell me where the others are, and the plan of attack for the rescue of the Mario Brothers, now," the prince commanded in a calm, but cold, voice.

"Never," Goombario declared defiantly.

This almost brought a chuckle from Kevin. He then waved his wand and a cloud of blue energy surrounded the Goomba's body. It then penetrated the body and after a second, retreated from the body and back into his wand. Goombario would have slumped over in defeat had he been able to move, for he knew by Kevin's satisfied grin that he had everything he needed. Kevin then snapped his fingers and two Dark Koopatrols, along with four normal Koopatrols entered the storage area. Looking at the familiar Goomba, one of the Dark Koopatrols said, "Looks like you were right, sire. What are your orders?"

"Take Goombario down to the dungeon, and keep him under heavy guard," the Koopa Prince directed. "There will be others joining him shortly." This brought a feeling of defeat to Goombario.

"Understood, sire," the Koopatrols replied. They then saluted him and took Goombario away. As they did so, the prince swished his wand again and took out what looked to be an Earth early twenty-first century cellular phone and spoke into it saying, "We've got intruders. Their names and faces should be appearing on your pads, now. Arrest them and take them to the dungeon. Then call Airship Squadron Beta to the castle immediately. The attack is about to begin."

"Roger that," a chorus of responders answered. Kevin then disappeared from the storage room, smiling. His little trick of storing the items actually worked, even when he thought that it in and of itself, was a long shot at best.

On top of Parakarry's perimeter guard tower, the orders from Kevin filtered to the Koopa Paratroopas that were stationed on top of the tower. "We got it," the squadron leader stated. He then cut the signal and pushed a button on his phone. Just then, the phones of the other guards began to beep. Parakarry looked over to them, noticing the guards' phones beeping, and asked, "Hey, what's happening? When do I get a pager like that?"

"You don't," the squadron leader answered. Just then, four Koopatrols and two Magikoopas appeared on the tower next to Parakarry, their spears, and wands already drawn. "You get a trip to the dungeon, Parakarry is it?"

Parakarry gasped at the use of his real name. The others merely laughed. "Yeah, Prince Kevin had an idea that you guys would be tryin' to rescue the Mario Brothers. We've not only identified you, but the rest of your team as well. After they're dealt with, we'll deal with the rest of your assault force as well." The Magikoopas then fired blasts of magic from their wands that struck Parakarry in the chest and rendered him unconscious.

"Well, that was easy," the Paratroopa squadron leader said nonchalantly. He and several others then picked up the unconscious Koopa Paratroopa and led him down to the dungeon.

Inside one of the castle corridors, Kooper and Koops continued to patrol the castle with the rest of the squadron. The Koopas marched along in silence when suddenly, a flash of light erupted in front of them, causing the squadron to come to a stop and cover their eyes. Once the light had subsided, it was revealed that Kevin Koopa was standing along over a dozen black-robed Elite Magikoopas, their wands already drawn and pointed at Kooper and Koops. The squadron leader stepped forward and asked, "What's going on, my lord?" He then knelt before the princes and their entourage.

"There are two infiltrators inside your squadron," Kevin answered. He fired a blast of energy that washed over the entire party. Immediately, the Kooper and Koops' old uniforms disappeared, and their normal attire was now shown over their bodies. In addition, the two infiltrators were now paralyzed and suspended in midair. Several of the Koopas jumped at the sight and exclaimed, "Woah! Who are these guys?"

"The blue-shelled Koopa is Kooper, and the one in the sky blue hooded sweatshirt is named Koops," Kevin explained calmly. "They are allies of Mario and have come to rescue him. They are not alone, either, for there are already two other infiltrators already in captivity in the castle. In addition, there should be an assault force coming towards the castle within the hour or so. Prepare yourselves on the off chance that they manage to break through our lines and reach the castle."

"Yes sir," the squadron leader replied, saluting. He and the others then continued to march along while Kevin and the others dragged Kooper and Koops down on the long trek down to the dungeon.

Not too far outside the castle grounds, about an hour after the captures of Goombario, Kooper, Koops, and Parakarry, Goombella and the rest of the assault force were marching towards Bowser's Castle. Lady Bow and Vivian turned invisible and traveled through the shadows respectively in order to infiltrate the castle unseen, hoping that should there be any suspicion of intruders, that the assault force would divert attention away from the two of them. Goombella and the others, however, had a far more daunting task in having to divert the castle guard away from the castle, and the Mario Brothers, and onto them.

As they saw the castle in the distance, they noticed that the path towards the castle was unusually quiet. They had only encountered a few squadrons of Koopa Troopas that seemed to have been zombie Koopas created by Magikoopas out of the bricks that were strewn about the landscape. The party had thought little of the paltry resistance until they started getting closer to the castle and noticing that the guards were not on edge at all. A glimmer of hope still entered their hearts, though, since this could mean that they would have an easier time of rescuing Mario and Luigi.

That glimmer of hope, however, vanished when they heard the sounds of Koopa airships approaching them. Coming from not only the castle, but from around several mountains behind them, to the sides, and right out in front of the party were no less than six Koopa airships. Escorting the airships were squadrons of twelve fighters per airship. In addition, dozens of Magikoopas and Elite Magikoopas also flew close to the airships. The party stared into the sky and found that the airships were bristling with weaponry ranging from cannons, Bullet Bill, Missile Bill, and Banzai Bill launchers, as well as flamethrowers. The dozens of Magikoopas soon swooped down and hovered only a few meters off the ground, drawing out their magic wands and pointing them at the party. Then, Kammy Koopa and Kamek stepped out onto the observation deck of the lead airship. Looking down at the surrounded party, Kamek proclaimed, "Citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom and allies of Mario. We have you surrounded. We've known you were coming for quite some time. The infiltrators you sent ahead of you have been captured by Prince Kevin. As you can see, you have no hope of escape, much less victory. Surrender now and your lives will be spared. You will still be taken to the dungeon, but you will still survive. If you don't, we will kill you where you stand. You have one minute to decide."

Goombella looked back at her friends and told them, "Well guys, things don't look good for us at the moment."

"Yeah," Lakilester agreed. "They've captured Goombario, Kooper, Koops, and Parakarry already."

"What about Lady Bow and Vivian," Ms. Mowz asked. "They went ahead of us a few minutes ago, and were already invisible. If they haven't been caught yet, then our plan may still be on."

"Perhaps," Goombella shrugged, considering the possibility, "but I wouldn't bet on it right now. Kevin's still at the castle and chances are he might be expecting such a plan."

"We can't just surrender to them," Yoshi Kid blurted. "Gonzales would never do such a thing!"

"We're not Mario," Goombella sighed. "Look at what they've got arrayed against us. I think that we should surrender."

This brought a gasp from the rest of the force. "What?" they all cried.

"Hear me out," she told them. "This is an unwinnable battle. But we may still have a chance to help Mario when the time for the executions come. Chances aren't good that we'll be able to do much, but we might be able to do _something_. And it's better than dying here and ending Mario and Luigi's hopes of rescue. This will at least get us closer to Mario and Luigi."

The others had to admit that she had a point, but they were still uncomfortable with surrendering to Kamek and Kammy. Goombella knew what they were thinking when she called up to Kamek and asked, "If we surrender, what guarantee do we have that you won't just kill us anyway?"

"The order to spare your lives should you surrender comes from Kevin, himself," the Magikoopa answered. "And Kevin surpasses me in magical ability. I would not dare to defy an order such as this that comes from him."

Kamek's answer surprised Goombella and the rest of the party, but they figured it was the best assurance that they would get. Goombella then turned to the others. They each gave a melancholy nod. Seeing this, she turned to Kamek and told him, "Then on behalf of the party, we surrender."

As soon as Goombella surrendered, the Magikoopas then came down and levitated the items away from Goombella and her assault force and then fired paralyzing spells at the party. Once they were fully paralyzed and floating in midair, they turned around and took the group back to the castle so as to put the group in the dungeon. As they were being transported to the dungeon, all they could do was hope that Vivian and Bow would be able to save the Mario Brothers, and them too. As Kamek and his forces took the assault party back to Bowser's Castle, Kamek waved his wand and the image of Kevin Koopa appeared. Once the image of the prince had fully formed, he said, "Mission accomplished, my prince. The enemy surrendered and we are taking them to the dungeon."

"Good work, Kamek," Kevin congratulated. "Once the prisoners are safely in the dungeon, make certain to quadruple the guard and to set up guard posts and perimeters for the executions tomorrow."

"Understood, my prince," Kamek said, bowing as the image of Kevin disappeared. With that, Kamek enjoyed the ride back to the castle, content in the knowledge that tomorrow, Bowser's long war with the Super Mario Brothers would finally come to an end…in victory.

Meanwhile, inside Bowser's Castle, Bow and Vivian were making their way down to the dungeon levels. They had passed several patrols of Koopatrols, Dark Koopatrols, and even a pair of Elite Magikoopas on their trip down to the dungeon. They had not yet heard about the capture of the assault force as they made their way throughout the castle. Bow and Vivian were careful to avoid any spotlights or other sources of light, for light would reveal them to the Koopas that were present.

Carefully making their way down into the deep recesses of the castle, they followed the map that they had memorized until they came upon the dungeon levels. They knew that Mario would be kept in the deepest and most heavily guarded dungeon cell of all. Staying invisible and in the shadows respectively, Bow and Vivian continued down the stairs until they reached the lowest level of the castle. They phased through the door and made their way down a long row of cells that were made of solid steel, with doors that were of similar consistency. They each searched for the cell that Mario and Luigi were occupying, and figured that their cell would be the one that was being guarded by two Dark Koopatrols. This was not good, for both Vivian and Bow knew that the Dark Koopatrols were both powerful, and may have been able to detect them if they revealed themselves to Mario and Luigi inside their cell. The Dark Koopatrols would have to be dealt with, and they both knew exactly how to do so. Vivian took out a Sleepy Sheep and deployed it against the two Dark Koopatrols. Suddenly, a multitude of yellow sheep appeared and stampeded towards the Dark Koopatrols. The stampede took the two armored Koopas completely by surprise and they were practically crushed by the stampede. As soon as the last sheep passed, the two Koopatrols immediately fell asleep. Once they were asleep, Vivian and Bow grabbed them and took them over to two cells far away from the Mario Brothers. Once the sleeping Dark Koopatrols were tossed into their respective cells, the two spirits closed the doors and locked them inside. The duo felt that the Dark Koopatrols would be asleep for several hours at the very least. As soon as the Dark Koopatrols were dealt with, for the time being, the two spirits went over to Mario's cell and phased through the door.

Inside the brothers' cell, Bow immediately became visible and Vivian emerged from the shadows. The Marios, noticing their friends arrive, jumped at the sight of them and exclaimed, "Bow, Vivian, what are you two doing here?"

"Getting you out of here," Bow replied haughtily. "What does it look like?"

Just as they were about to make a move, the group heard the sound of footsteps coming down the dungeon corridor. "Uh oh, you two had better hide," Mario warned. "It's likely a guard or one of the members of the Royal Family."

Bow and Vivian followed Mario's advice and turned invisible and retreated into the shadows, respectively. The sounds of the footfalls got louder and louder until they sounded like they were just outside the cell. Just then, they stopped and the window opened. The face of Kevin Koopa was visible to the Mario Brothers as they gazed out at the Koopa. Both Vivian and Bow had feelings of dread well up in their hearts. They had a feeling that something bad had happened. Mario and Luigi merely scowled. "What is it Kevin?" Mario asked.

"I am here to tell you of your fate," Kevin answered plainly. There was no note of haughtiness or arrogance. "You will be executed tomorrow at midday." Kevin was about to leave when he said, "Oh, one other thing. There was a rescue attempt. Some of your allies tried to save you, but failed. I and the castle's security managed to capture them and have locked them in the dungeon. They, too, are scheduled to be executed tomorrow with you. You may still have a chance to save two of them, though. Before you are executed, the two of you may be given a final request, though it is not guaranteed. While you cannot save yourselves, should you be given a final request, you may ask him to spare one of them, each. Don't waste it."

With that, Kevin closed the window and the Koopa departed. As he was leaving, the Marios could not help but note that it seemed as if Kevin was hoping that some of their friends might manage to survive, even if they would be confined to the dungeon for the rest of their lives. As soon as the Koopa Prince left, Vivian and Bow reappeared before Mario once more. "So the others have been captured," Vivian said, her worry evident in her voice.

Bow did not say anything at first. She merely turned to Mario and Luigi and then said, "Looks like we'll be on our own. We have to get you guys out of here first and then rescue the others."

"No," Mario said, cutting her off. "We'll go to the executions."

This took both Bow and Vivian by surprise. "Are you nuts?" Bow exclaimed, not hiding her shock.

"They'll kill you," Vivian echoed.

"I know," Mario said with a smug smile. "But I think that I may have a way to not only save us, but also the others as well."

"I'd like to hear it," Luigi volunteered.

Mario smiled. "It all hinges on Bowser's pride. Think about it. Kevin managed to capture us; Kevin managed to capture the assault force that was going to rescue us. We all stormed Bowser's Castle years ago and defeated him when he had the Star Rod. We nearly killed him in that battle. Bowser may be incredibly proud of his oldest son, but he's also scared of him. Kevin's popular with the civilians and military of the Koopa Kingdom. Bowser sees this, and he will be eager to show his strength. Since Kevin was the one who has accomplished more in three days than Bowser has in more than a decade, we can use Bowser's fear of his son's growing reputation to try to get him to release everyone."

"How are you going to do that?" Vivian asked.

"Simple," Mario replied. "I'm going to challenge him to a one-on-one fight, winner take all, no superpowers for me. If I win, everyone goes free. If he wins, we _all_ die."

"Do you really think he'll go for it?" Luigi asked.

"He'll have no choice," Mario answered. "He'll have to accept the challenge to show that he's still as strong as his son."

"But Kevin will advise him against it," Bow told him.

"I'm counting on it," Mario replied slyly. "That's going to be what clinches Bowser's decision to fight me. You all stay out of sight until the time comes. Should Kevin or someone else interfere, we'll be needing all the help we can get in order to escape."

"Got it," Bow and Vivian replied in unison.

Vivian then took out two items, a Metal Cap and a Fire Flower, and handed them to him. "Just in case someone interferes," she told him.

"Thanks," Mario said as he accepted the gifts and stuffed them in his pocket. Bow then handed Luigi a Shooting Star and a Hammer Suit. Once that was finished, the two spirits retreated to the shadows in order to wait and tell the others that they were not without hope.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

The next day came; the time had finally come. Kevin gazed out of the window of his bedroom inside his quarters as the sun rose over the horizon and shined over the barren wasteland that surrounded his father's castle. He had spent most of yesterday going over the final plans for the executions and the security deployments, making sure that there were no holes in the net. Bowser had wanted to tell the rest of the Koopa Kingdom about the failed attempt to rescue the Mario Brothers by the rest of their allies, but Kevin had advised against it. He felt that doing so would alert Peach and the others inside the Mushroom Kingdom that the plans of Mario's allies had failed and that they would be needed in order to save the Marios. While Kevin did not doubt that he, or any other member of his family, could defeat Peach in a fight, she _had_ managed to save Mario on one occasion when the Marios and their friends were under the influence of the Vibe Scepter. Even though Peach did not have access to the powers or the effects of the Vibe Scepter anymore, that he knew of, he still did not put it past Peach to try to mount a rescue attempt of some kind. In fact, he would have been disappointed if she had _not_ launched a rescue attempt, assuming she knew of the fate of the first attempt. Still, he wanted security to take every precaution possible to ensure that the Mario Brothers were not rescued. There was still the issue of the fact that two of Mario's known allies had not been spotted in the rescue attempt. Lady Bow, the leader of the Boos in, and the mistress of, Boo's Mansion in the Forever Forest, along with the former Shadow Siren, Vivian, had not been a part of the rescue attempt of the rescue attempt of the Mario Brothers. Kevin, however, had not for a second believed that they were not a part of it, though, and had everyone in the castle searching for them, issuing flashlights to the entire security force inside the castle. As it was, though, no one had spotted the two missing allies, and some had even said that they might not have been part of the assault or infiltrating forces.

Next, Kevin went to work on securing all of the items that had been taken off of the persons of the assault force members. He had managed to obtain several Shooting Stars, Thunder Rages, and Egg Missiles, Egg Bombs, and even a couple of Zess Dynamites, cakes that had sticks of dynamite emerging from the cake, from the assault force members. Kevin made certain to keep hold of the Zess Dynamites and Shooting Stars, just in case he could use them if worst came to worst. He also confiscated any and all of the healing items that the allies had had in their possession and had given them to his father and siblings. He then gave the rest of the items to various guards and squad commanders. He had also admonished them to be on the lookout for Princess Peach or any other assault force that the Mushroom Kingdom might muster and send against the Koopa Kingdom. Even a feint might be enough to allow Mario, Luigi, and the others to escape.

As it was, though, nothing had happened as of yet. The Koopa Prince continued to gaze out the window of his bedroom as the sun continued to rise. Could today be the day? Could today be the day that the war between the Koopa Kingdom and the Super Mario Brothers finally came to an end, in victory? The young prince was almost giddy with excitement and he grinned. If all went well, he would not be constantly going over to the Mario War Memorial to gaze at the ever increasingly long list of the dead. Over a million had died in the war against the Mario Brothers. Kevin wanted to make sure that it would all end today. To that end, he vowed to do whatever it took to ensure the final victory of his father over the Super Mario Brothers. He soon looked over at his clock and found that it said 5:30 A.M. He still had six and a half hours to get ready for the rest of the day. And he did so, preparing by eating a good breakfast, doing his normal morning exercises, and equipping himself properly for when he would go down to meet with his father and the rest of his family.

Before leaving, though, he went into his study once more and took out a series of items that had been confiscated from Mario's allies. He set out before him a Zess Dynamite, Life/Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, Tanooki Suit, Raccoon Leaf, Penguin Suit, Thunder Rage, Ice Storm, and Shooting Star. He then took out a special magic wand of his own design that had the ability to absorb superpowers and items. He held the wand over the items and activated it. The clear crystal head of the wand vanished and the wand began to suck the items and power-ups into it. As the wand absorbed the power-ups, they vanished, but the wand began to change color from a gray rod to a golden rod. Once each of the power-ups had been absorbed, the wand head reappeared, only its color fluctuated between a wide variety of colors, from red, to blue, to green, to gold, to white, to silver. Once the wand had absorbed the powers, Kevin smiled. It would be a perfect tool for his father, should the Marios and their allies attempt to escape before their executions.

When the time read about ten o'clock, he knew that it was time. Putting on his usual black robe and getting his wand, his remaining Zess Dynamite, and a couple of Shroom Steaks that had been confiscated from the allies, he went down to the Main Castle Hall to join his father and siblings.

Back at Princess Peach's Castle, Peach stood out on the balcony of her bedroom, looking up at the stars, wishing and praying for the successful rescue of the Mario Brothers. She had yet to hear anything from Goombella or any of the other rescue team members and she was now becoming quite worried. She gave a sigh and returned to her bedroom to prepare for the rest of the day. As she went back into her room, she heard a knock at the door. "Who is it?" she asked.

"It's me, my Princess," the familiar voice of Toadsworth said. He seemed to be speaking in a normal tone, so her hopes that he was coming to report on the success of the rescue of the Marios were dimming quickly.

"Enter," she called back.

The door swung open and the elderly Toad entered her room. She stared at him, her concern for Mario and Luigi evident on her face and she eventually asked, "So, is there any word on the rescue of Mario and Luigi?"

Toadsworth slumped forward in disappointment. "None as of yet, my Princess," he replied. "I would have thought we would have heard something by now."

"Yeah," Peach agreed, nodding. "So would I." The princess then went over to her balcony once more and stared out into the morning sky. Despite it being a sunny day, there was no cheer in the air or the sky at all. That was when she knew. Something had gone wrong. Goombella and the others had failed to rescue Mario, and were likely in need of rescue, themselves. The only evidence against this supposition was the fact that Bowser was not proclaiming on the news that he had captured all of those who had tried to rescue Mario. However, if Bowser was actually listening to Kevin's advice, then chances were that he would not be broadcasting this victory until it was already too late. It was then that Peach decided that it would be better to be prepared for the worst than to hope for the best. She then told Toadsworth, "Toadsworth, get to one of our captured Koopa airships and alert the crew to get ready for departure."

Toadsworth's eyes went wide and he gasped. "What? What are you doing?"

"Saving Mario and the others," Peach responded. "Now get the airship fueled and armed. Mario and Luigi need our help and I'm not going to standby and do nothing. They've saved me too many times. Now it's my turn to help them."

"But one airship against the entire Koopa armada…" the elderly Toad began, but Peach cut him off with a swipe of her hand.

"The airship I'm going to use is a captured Koopa airship," she explained. "With luck, we might be able to get to the castle, especially if much of the airship fleet is there, doing its best to keep the Marios in, rather than anyone else out."

"But that won't work," the Toad countered. "Kevin will likely order a security check of any and all incoming airships and you'll be vastly outnumbered and outgunned. I know it's hard, but the best thing you can do right now is wait. While there has been no report, chances are that if the rescue team were compromised or killed, we would have heard of it by now." Toadsworth gave a sigh before continuing, "I know that sitting here is the hardest thing to do, but if you were to go and get captured, you would become a significant liability for the Marios. The best thing you can do is wait. Once we hear something, one way or the other, then we can take action."

Peach could see the wisdom in Toadsworth's words. In the end, she sat back down and said, "Okay, you win." She grimaced at having to sit and wait idly by as Mario and Luigi were in danger. It was now that she vowed that she would never be this helpless to assist them ever again. She clenched her hands into fists and slammed them down on her bed. She vowed to train and get stronger so that the next time the Marios were in need of help, _she_ would be fighting alongside them in battle.

Kevin arrived in the Main Castle Hall at precisely ten-thirty A.M. As he entered the hall, he found his father sitting on his throne, with the rest of his sibling surrounding Bowser, fawning over him. When Kevin entered, the other Koopalings immediately ceased what they were doing and looked over at the entrance. Upon seeing Kevin enter, Wendy beamed towards him, almost seductively, while Ludwig and Bowser Jr., seemed to scowl. "So, you finally made it," Ludwig and Bowser Jr. both said harshly. Bowser said nothing.

"Forgive my tardiness," Kevin said as he approached his father, kneeling before him more like a loyal subject than the son of the Koopa King. "I was finishing up the final touches on a special magic wand that I hope will give you an edge should the Marios and/or their allies make an escape attempt in the last couple of hours." He pulled out the wand and set it on the ground before his father.

Bowser rose from his throne and stepped forward towards his son. He bent down and picked up the wand, saying to Kevin, "Rise."

Kevin rose and waited as Bowser examined the wand, noting the constantly changing color of its round head. "So, what does this wand do, Kevin?"

"It is designed to absorb and copy any powers and power-up items that it comes into contact with," the Koopa Prince answered. "So far, it has the powers of Mario's Fire Flower, Life/Super Mushroom, a Zess Dynamite, Tanooki Suit, Raccoon Leaf, Penguin Suit, Thunder Rage, Ice Storm, and Shooting Star. These are not one-time use items and powers, either. As long as this wand is intact, you can utilize any and all superpowers that have been absorbed and/or copied by the wand. It was a special project of mine in Magic School, but I recently managed to finish it. It can also absorb enemy powers that are used against you, however, it has to come into contact with the power-up item, or the energy unleashed by said item or power, in order to absorb it, and while in that mode it can work like a vacuum, it can leave you vulnerable if you try to absorb an area of effect power or spell."

"I see," Bowser said, liking what he was hearing. "So why give it to me?"

"I was always making this wand for you, Father," Kevin replied, bowing.

Bowser was not entirely convinced, but he did not want to start a fight with Kevin in front of his other children and the guards that were still inside the room. After an awkward few moments of silence, he asked his son, "How does it work?"

"It works the same way any wand does," Kevin answered. "Wave the wand and will its power to come forth. The images of the powers, items, or other spells, as well as their effects, will flash in your mind. From them, you will be able to choose. Even better is that you can also stack the powers on yourself, something that the Mario Brothers are not able to do with their own normal superpowers. Give it a try?"

Bowser did so and he waved the wand. Immediately, the images of the explosive nature of the Zess Dynamite, the fireballs of the Fire Flower, ice balls of the Penguin Suit, and the names, demonstrations, and effects of the other superpowers that had been absorbed by the wand flooded into his mind and were engrained into his memory. He then willed himself to be a Fire Koopa. After willing the transformation, he suddenly found that his normally green shell and head had turned a fiery red. Kevin and the guards then parted before Bowser as he pointed towards the door to the Main Hall and fired a volley of fireballs. Each of the fireballs sailed through the air from his hand and struck the door, leaving massive burn marks on the metal doors. Bowser also felt as if his fire breath was also powered up, so he tried it out on the door. Indeed, the stream not only maintained its coherency and strength as it sailed across the room towards the door, but upon colliding with the door, it melted a hole completely through the door in one second flat. After he ceased his attack, Bowser stared at the door, his eyes wide with wonder and glee. Kevin also smiled. This wand worked better than Bowser had imagined it would. "This is awesome!" the Koopa King exclaimed.

Kevin could only echo his father's sentiments. "Yes it is, Father."

"Wow, Daddy's strong!" Wendy blurted as she went over to hug her father. The other Koopalings scowled at Kevin, but they did so in such a way that it was obvious that they were doing so because they were kicking themselves for not thinking of making such a magic wand in the first place. Still, they went over and joined their father.

"Man, you're pretty impressive, King Dad," Lemmy said, looking over at the hole that had been melted into the door, whose outline was still cooling. The others echoed Lemmy's sentiments and then fawned over their father once more. Kevin merely smiled as the others were hugging their father and playing around him. Ludwig, however, was standing at arm's reach along with Kevin, but still smiling.

"Man, Dad. No one anywhere will be able to beat you now," he said.

Bowser thanked him, but then cast an uneasy glance over at Kevin. Kevin had heard what Ludwig had said and almost cringed at the statement. The last thing he had wanted was Bowser getting worried about his standing in power compared to that of his oldest son. Bowser continued to stare at Kevin, but did not scowl. Kevin then glanced back at his father, smiling affectionately. Unlike many Koopa princes, who would have smiled merely to keep suspicion of their wishes to rule the kingdom sooner or later after their father or regent had died, oftentimes sooner, and held no love for their parents, Kevin actually did love his father.

The Koopas continued to talk amongst themselves for a while as the time of the executions of the Mario Brothers and their allies fast approached. Kevin stood a ways off, letting the others make small talk with their father. He had never been all that good at making small talk, only tending to speak when he had something important to say. The more he thought about it, the more the comparisons to him and the Mario Brothers were becoming more appropriate. In another time, another place; he could actually see himself as a friend of either or both of the Mario Brothers. Unfortunately, right now they were foes, and he hated them with a passion due to the number of Koopas and other soldiers of his father's army that they had killed in battle. And soon, they, too, would die, and the bloodshed would finally come to an end.

Soon, the time came for the family to leave the Main Hall and go out into the Castle Courtyard and carry out the ceremony of the executions of the Mario Brothers and their allies. Bowser then led the rest of his family, with Kevin standing at his right, followed by the others, according to age: Ludwig, Lemmy, Roy, Iggy, Wendy, Morton, Larry, and Bowser Jr.

The outer courtyard was bustling with activity with only minutes to go before the Mario Brothers and their allies were to be brought out and executed. Lady Bow and Vivian hid in the shadows, waiting for the right time to strike and try to give the Marios and their friends a fighting chance at escape. They knew that it would be difficult, though, with the many guards that were stationed at the courtyard, as well as the airships and fighters that were on patrol around the castle. Just as they had thought of the fighters, the roar of jet engines sounded as four fighters buzzed the castle overhead, prompting Bow, Vivian, and the others present to cover their ears until they had passed. Koopatrols armed with machine guns were stationed at every exit, often in pairs or even fours. Some of them were even Dark Koopatrols. In addition, a number of Magikoopas were also assigned to support the Koopatrols should the Marios attempt an escape. Koopatrols, Gloombas, Hammer Bros., Boomerang Bros., Fire Bros., and Sledge Bros., and Sumo Bros. rounded out the guards that were patrolling the stands. Still, numerous Koopa Troopas, Goombas, and others were still on standby should Mario attempt an escape. In addition, Bow and Vivian had learned that many of the security forces were in place at Kevin's request. Glancing around at the extra security, the two spirits knew that any escape attempt would be difficult at best, to downright impossible at worst.

They immediately stopped scanning the crowd when the massive doors that lead to the interior of the castle clanked and began to slide open. The grinding of gears and the creak of metal and wood on each other created a cacophony of sound as the doors swung open. Once they were open, four Elite Magikoopas dressed in black robes stepped out, along with a Koopatrol that was dressed in golden armor, known as a Gold Koopatrol, the elite of Bowser's elite guard. Two trumpeters followed the Gold Koopatrol herald as he went to take his position in the center of the formation. The Elite Magikoopas then formed a square around the Gold Koopatrol and held out their wands. As soon as the Magikoopas had taken their positions, the Gold Koopatrol took out a scroll and stood regally in the center of the Magikoopa formation. He then proclaimed loudly, "Subjects of the Koopa Kingdom, members of the Koopa Troop, hearken all! I present to you the most valiant and noble King Bowser, King of the Koopa Kingdom and the Koopa Troop!" Bowser then stepped out from the castle to the sound of thunderous cheers and applause. "You go, King Koopa!" could be heard from various audience members. He then took his place to the side of the herald and stood, waiting for the rest of his family to be introduced. It was then that the herald spoke again.

"May I present to you Prince Kevin, eldest son of Bowser Koopa, Crown Prince of the Koopa Kingdom, General of the Koopa Troop, Master Magician of the Magikoopa Force." Kevin then stepped out and gave a curt bow to the herald, and then to his father. The whole castle cheered and applauded as Kevin stepped out into the makeshift arena. He commanded a great deal of respect from the military and the Magikoopa Force, and they were quick to let him know that they had his back. In addition, though, there were a large number of young female Koopas that were instantly smitten with the handsome, by Koopa standards, prince and were blowing kisses to him and squealing in delight as he stepped out onto the platform. Kevin blushed as he heard the girls squeal as he proceeded to take his place, standing right next to his father, glancing at the others, giving respectful nods. The herald then continued, "I present Princes Lemmy, Roy, Iggy, Princess Wendy, Princes Morton, Larry, and finally, Prince Bowser Jr., namesake of King Bowser Koopa!"

Each of the Koopaling came out as they were called and each took their place at their father's side. Bowser could not help but beam with pride as each of his children came out and took their place next to him. The only one he had any concern for was Kevin. Glancing over at his oldest son, he could see that Kevin was nervous. He felt that Kevin was probably thinking about how many things could go wrong with the executions and how the Marios might manage to escape, or worse, kill Bowser and/or members of the Royal Family. Bowser then clutched the wand that Kevin had given him and he gave a soft rumble of satisfaction. He had everything he would need to stave off an escape attempt right there.

After a while, the rest of Bowser's court followed him. Leading the tide of courtiers were Kammy Koopa and Kamek, the leaders of the Magikoopa Force under Kevin. As they walked out, Kevin gave his mentor, Kamek, a salute, which the Magikoopa returned. Following Kammy and Kamek were other members of nobility. These were mainly Hammer Bros., Dark Koopatrols, normal Koopa Troopas, and Koopas that were a bit more like the Royal Family in size and strength. As soon as the court had assembled and taken their seats, Bowser stepped forward and began the proceedings.

Upon stepping forward onto the center of the platform, he proclaimed, "My loyal subjects. Today, the war against the Mushroom Kingdom, or rather, the Super Mario Brothers, has finally come to an end!" The entire assembly then cheered, applauded, and gave loud whistles. Bowser raised his hand, saying quietly, "Thank you, thank you." He even gave a few bows, taking in this moment for as long as he could, for he knew that he would never have this opportunity again, and that this moment would only be surpassed when he finally married Princess Peach. And marrying Peach would be easy, for without the Mario Brothers to defend her, she was practically helpless against him and the rest of the Koopa Troop.

The applause continued for the better part of ten minutes, during which, Bowser merely waited, basking in the glow of his impending final victory, as did the rest of his court and all but one of his children. Kevin was beginning to get nervous. Bowser was foolishly assuming that he already had his final victory well in hand, when the fact was that Mario and Luigi may have still had a chance to escape, or make a fight of it. Kevin soon subtly activated a small, chip-sized radio that he had hidden in his robe and said, "Captain Patroopinator, report."

"Still no sign of the Shadow Siren or Lady Bow," the Dark Koopatrol, said softly in response, his voice echoing faintly over the radio. "If they're here, they are doing their best to remain hidden."

Kevin grunted. "Well, keep an eye out. I don't want any surprises."

"Don't worry, my lord. My best troops are making sure that Mario and Luigi are properly restrained and have eyes on them. They aren't going anywhere."

"Good," Kevin told him. He then cut the line. What he had not told the captain was that his primary concern was not the Marios escaping before being brought out, but escaping during the executions, themselves. And if that happened, Bowser would never be able to live it down.

Once the applause had subsided, Bowser spoke again. "Today, our nemeses, the Super Mario Brothers, are finally going to pay for the crimes they have perpetrated against the forces of the Koopa Kingdom!"

Bowser then motioned for the guards to bring out the Mario Brothers. The two Koopatrols who were standing in front of a series of smaller doors nodded and they pulled back two large wooden doors. As soon as the doors were opened, a quartet of Magikoopas brought out the two humans. Beams fired from the tortoise sorcerers bound the arms and legs of the Mario Brothers as they were being led to a large platform, higher than the one that Bowser and the other Koopalings were currently occupying. The Marios did their best to look somber and defeated, but Kevin could not help but notice that they were merely appraising the situation and actually seemed to like what they saw, each brother turning towards each other and giving a knowing smile. As they were being led out onto the platform, the members of the assembly were assaulting the Mario Brothers with jeers and catcalls, some of them quite vulgar, but the Marios merely sighed and smiled. This caused Kevin to become concerned. He wished that he could have gone over to his father and alerted him to the fact that the Marios were planning something, but he knew better than to interrupt his father while he was giving his speech.

Soon, Bowser continued, "And not only that, but see here, we also have the rest of his conspirators and allies!"

Another smaller door opened and over two dozen Magikoopas and Koopatrols then led out the rest of Mario's allies, minus Lady Bow and Vivian, who were still hiding in the shadows, waiting for the right time to strike and give the Marios a decent chance of escape. One by one, Mario's would be rescuers were led out in chains and magical bonds by Koopatrols and Magikoopas. Bow, Vivian, and the Marios watched the proceedings as the assembly hurled insults and profanations down towards their friends. The captives looked up at the Mario Brothers glumly. They felt as if they had failed Mario and their gazes said it all. "We're sorry," both Goombario and Goombella mouthed towards the Marios, which drew more taunts from the guards as they unveiled magical whips and proceeded to lash the two Goombas. They continued to lash the Goombas, and some of the other allies for good measure, until they had finally reached their positions, where the Magikoopas cast a painful paralyzing spell on them, causing them to collapse onto the ground, and freeze them with unimaginable pain should they move, which the guards forced them to do by kicking them every once in a while. Bowser grinned at the scene, while Kevin grimaced. He was not a big fan of torture, especially when it was done for pleasure and not in the gathering of vital information, as was being done to Goombella and the others. This type of sport sickened the young Koopa Prince. He glared at the guards, his gaze telling them to stop. The guards merely laughed and mouthed back, "Sorry, but we follow your dad, Prince."

Kevin merely scowled once again.

Bowser soon motioned for the crowd to quiet down once again. Once they had quieted down, Bowser began to speak once more, projecting his voice over the crowd, saying, "The Super Mario Brothers Mario Mario and Luigi Mario; and their cohorts, Goombario, Kooper, Bombette, Parakarry, Sushie, Watt, Lakilester, Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, Yoshi Kid, Admiral Bobbery, and Ms. Mowz have been found guilty of innumerable counts of murder, sedition, theft, and…a whole host of other crimes that haven't come to the top of my head at the moment. The punishment is death by whatever means I and/or the guards see fit. The more painful the death is, the better. The executions are to be carried out immediately." Bowser then stepped up onto a large platform a couple of steps higher than the platform that he had been addressing the audience from and commanded the Magikoopas and others restraining the Marios, "Bring me the Super Mario Brothers!"

"Yes, sire," the Magikoopas and guards proclaimed in reply, complying with the order. A look of worry began to cross Kevin's face, for he had a gad feeling that the Marios were planning something, and the dark smiles given off by Mario indicated that Bowser was stepping headfirst into a trap.

Before Bowser said another word, Kevin whistled to him and told him, as quietly as possible so that the microphones would not pick up on it, "Father, don't give the Marios any final requests or anything. Just kill them now." It was normally a tradition for the Koopa King to give a condemned prisoner one final request, as long as it was not a stay of execution, but such requests were not always honored, despite the fact that Kevin had informed Mario about the possibility of having such a request granted yesterday during his visit with the plumbers. In fact, in Bowser's case, he almost never honored such requests. He merely looked back at Kevin and waved off his comments, not paying any real heed to Kevin's warning.

The Koopa King went up to Mario and Luigi and stood over them, grinning. "You know, it's customary for me to give you one last request," he said mockingly. "Usually, you would each get one final request, but since you're brothers, I've decided that the two of you only get one final request. My son over there," he pointed to Kevin, "even said that I shouldn't even give you that much, but since I'm such a nice guy," he rolled his eyes, prompting a chuckle from the audience and all of his children, save for Kevin, "I'll grant you one final request. Tell me, what do you want?"

Mario tried to move forward, but his bonds prevented him from moving. Bowser scowled and looked over at the guard. He told the guard, "Remove his leg binds."

"Yes, sir," the Magikoopa guard answered unwaveringly and, with a wave of his wand, Mario's leg binds vanished, allowing the plumber to step forward.

Mario stepped forward and faced Bowser as Bowser asked once more, "Well? What is your final request?"

"I request that you free Goombario and the others that you have captured, while allowing me and Luigi to remain behind for execution," Mario answered. He cast a melancholy glance at Luigi, who simply gave him a sad smile.

Bowser broke out in almost maniacal laughter, prompting the rest of the assembly and the Koopalings, save for Kevin, to laugh with him. Kevin could only look on in dread as he knew exactly what would come next. "Don't entertain him," Bowser's eldest son warned. "Just kill him and get it over with!"

But Bowser did not listen. He continued to laugh for several minutes before calming down. Once the laughter had died down, he cried amusingly in retort, "No!" This only prompted more laughter from the audience. What Bowser was not noticing, though was that both Mario and Luigi were smiling now, and even laughing softly to themselves. They had him.

Mario then went over to Bowser and proclaimed in a loud voice that the microphones were easily able to pick up, "Then since you refuse my request for the freedom of my friends, I challenge you to a one-on-one fight, winner take all!"

Kevin's heart sank at the sound of Mario's challenge to his father. This was what he had been afraid of the whole time. He knew that Mario would first ask for the safety of his friends and comrades. It was his way. He also knew that his father would refuse the request, opening the way for Mario to challenge him directly. And proclaiming a challenge like this would allow for far more, for there was no way that Bowser could refuse a direct challenge from Mario, especially with his record against Mario, and the one who had actually managed to defeat the Mario Brothers in battle standing by his side for so long. Eventually, Bowser responded by asking, "Interesting. So, what exactly do you mean by 'winner take all'?"

The Koopa Prince knew exactly what was going to come next. Mario then responded, "What I mean is that if you win, you get to kill me, I'll already be dead anyway, so it won't matter, Luigi, everyone else that has helped me that you have captured. In addition, I'll let you send the word recorded right here and now that Yoshi is to not fight for the Mushroom Kingdom on my behalf, or seek vengeance for my own death." The plumber's gaze then focused met directly with Bowser's. "However, if I win, me, Luigi, and all of my allies get to go free and return to the Mushroom Kingdom unmolested in any way, by anyone. Oh, and no interference is allowed on either side of the fight. That means I can't rely on any partners, or any superpowers or items at all in my fight against you. However, you can't call upon any of your allies either, especially your oldest son, Kevin. If you do so, you automatically forfeit the fight and I will win!" He then focused his gaze down at the Koopa Prince, who looked ready to faint.

"Don't do it!" Kevin called up to his father.

"Shut up!" Bowser roared at his son. Kevin then recoiled as if he was hit with a wrecking ball. Still, he could not move as his father then turned to face Mario. "I accept," Bowser proclaimed proudly. Soon, the battle to decide the fate of not only Mario and Luigi, but that of all of their friends, and likely the Mushroom Kingdom, was about to begin.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

As Bowser neared Mario, the platform that they were standing on began to break away from the rest of the ledge and formed the shape of a star, reminiscent of the star-shaped platform that Mario had faced Bowser on in the level Bowser in the Sky in Peach's Castle a few years ago. As Bowser and Mario rose, Kevin cried out to his father, "Wait Father, don't do this! Let us kill the Marios and their allies now!"

"Shut up Kevin!" Bowser roared as the platform rose into the air. "I _have_ to do this! I have fought Mario for so long. I want to finish him off now, once and for all!"

"But…"

But the Koopa Prince was cut off with a dark glare from his father. Kevin sighed and went back to join the rest of his family. Wendy came over to him and tried to cheer him up, saying, "Don't worry so much, Kev. Dad's gonna slaughter Mario. With that wand you gave him, there's no way he'll lose."

Kevin was not so sure. He had studied his father's fights against Mario and had come to the conclusion that Mario was a lot stronger than either his father, or his siblings gave him credit for, despite the fact that they had suffered constant defeats at the plumber's, and sometimes at Luigi's as well. He could only watch in horror as the platform continued to ascend, and pray that his father managed to defeat Mario. The star-shaped platform ceased its ascent when it was approximately fifty feet above the platform that they had once been standing on. A quartet of spiked bombs then appeared to surround the platform in a square-like pattern. The battle seemed to be reminiscent of Mario's final fight with Bowser in Peach's Castle during his first takeover of the castle. Luigi and Mario's comrades gazed into the sky as the platform stopped and the two bitter enemies faced one another, standing on opposite ends of the platform. They also did not miss the spiked bombs that were floating alongside the platform as well. Many of them had also heard about a battle Mario had against Bowser that was similar, if not identical, to this, save for the platform's location.

"Be careful Mario," Luigi called up to Mario, knowing full well that his brother was going into this fight with a disadvantage. While Mario had defeated Bowser without the use of his power-ups and items before, the younger Mario brother had a feeling that Bowser came prepared to fight this time. He noticed the wand in Bowser's right hand and he could not help but think that it would be key to Bowser's strategy against Mario. "Watch out for that wand! He's up to something," he called up to Mario.

Mario looked down and winked, indicating that he had heard the call of his younger brother. Kevin looked up toward Bowser and eventually called, "Father, don't underestimate Mario. He is still a highly dangerous opponent, even without his superpowers!"

Bowser growled as he looked back at the Koopa Prince. "Don't worry about me, Kevin," Bowser retorted. "Without his powers, Mario is no match for me!"

Kevin could only shrug, seeing as his father was too stubborn and arrogant to see that he was endangering his absolute victory over Mario and his allies. The Marios and the allies that he and the others had captured were the only army that the Mushroom Kingdom had. Without them, the Mushroom Kingdom would fall to any one of the members of the Koopa Royal Family. Heck, Kamek or Kammy alone would be more than enough to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom, they were that pathetic. Kevin knew why his father was so eager to accept Mario's challenge, though. It had been Kevin who had defeated and captured the Super Mario Brothers, Kevin who had discovered the infiltrators and captured them, Kevin who had found out about the rescue force and alerted Kammy and Kamek to the assault and allowed them to intercept the attacking force before they had managed to get very far in the Koopa Kingdom. Kevin was responsible for all of the Koopa Troop's recent victories over Mario and his allies. Bowser was worried about how the rest of the kingdom would look at him, as well as his oldest son, who was now more powerful than ever. He had to find a way to show the rest of the Koopa Kingdom that he was just as powerful as his son; and the only way to do that, in his mind, was to defeat Mario in single combat.

Bowser stared at Mario, who returned his glare. For a moment, neither combatant moved. They merely sized each other up as they stared at each other. Bowser then suddenly began the battle by curling into a massive spiked ball and rolling towards Mario. Mario, following the restrictions that he placed on himself, thus deciding not to use his Fire Flower or Metal Cap, merely got out of the way and fled from the onrushing King of the Koopas. He moved to his left and Bowser rolled on by, overshooting his target. The Koopa King then swerved to his right to try and reestablish a bead on the plumber, sending up rock and debris as he quickly made his turn and rushed after Mario once more.

The Koopa King continued to charge towards the plumber in an attempt to flatten him into a Swiss cheese-like pancake. The human, however was too quick and agile for the massive Koopa King, though. As soon as Bowser managed to reach Mario, the red and blue clad plumber merely dove out of the Koopa King's way, allowing Bowser to overshoot his target. This plan of attack continued for quite a while, but met with no success. This infuriated Bowser. "Why won't you just stand still and let me crush you?" the Koopa King roared in frustration as he once again attempted to crush Mario. Mario dove to his right and let Bowser sail on past once again. The plumber smiled as Bowser began to feel even more frustration at his failed attempt to kill him. The Koopa King repeated the same style of attack again and again, meeting with no success. He gritted his teeth as he was beginning to lose his patience and take more foolish risks.

Bowser picked up the pace when he rolled towards Mario in his next attempt to steamroll the plumber. Mario quickly noticed the increase in Bowser's speed and dove out of the way of the onrushing Koopa. He successfully managed to evade Bowser's rush, but the Koopa King was much closer to actually killing him now than he had been on his previous attempts. However, Bowser was also slower to decelerate after missing the plumber and his turn to try to regain his bead on Mario was far wider than it had been during the previous attempts. This gave the plumber an idea.

He went over towards the closest edge of the platform that was one of the points of the star. As he did this, Bowser quickly grinned from underneath his shell. The human was making himself far more vulnerable moving away from the center of the platform, where he had a great deal of room to maneuver, and towards edge, where he had no ability to maneuver at all. From below the platform, however, Kevin could see Mario standing perilously close to the edge. He moved from his seat towards one of the stands that was closer to the level of the platform so that he could get a better view of the battle. That was when he realized Mario's plan. And it was obvious to the Koopa Prince that Bowser was playing right into his nemesis's hands as he began to roll towards Mario once more.

"Wait, Father! It's a trap!" Kevin called out in warning. If Bowser managed to roll off of the edge and strike the ground, then the battle would end in a ring-out and Mario would be declared the winner by default. Even though there was no referee, Bowser would still be seen to have lost the fight. And by accepting Mario's challenge, as well as the terms of the challenge, the Mario Brothers, as well as all of Mario's allies that had been captured would have to be released.

Bowser paid his son no heed, though, as he rolled straight towards Mario. Mario then turned around and waited for the Koopa King to approach, which Bowser took to be a sign of surrender. As Bowser approached Mario, the plumber crouched before springing up into the air, performing a back flip over the oncoming Koopa. As Mario sailed over the Koopa King, Bowser realized Mario's plan, a little too late. Bowser rolled on by, failing to hit Mario and as soon as Mario had landed behind him, Bowser did his best to slow down and stop before he sailed off the edge. It was not to be, however, as Bowser was unable to dig in and arrest his momentum before sailing off the platform. As he was skidding to a halt, he ran out of space and proceeded to fall over the edge of the platform and plummet towards the platform below.

As Bowser was beginning to go over the edge, Kevin immediately stood up and prepared to use his magic to push Bowser back onto the platform. He pulled out his wand and was about to act when both Kamek and Kammy appeared beside him and gripped his arm. Kamek shook his head solemnly. "As painful as it is to watch, you can't interfere in this fight, my student," Kamek told him sagely. "If you do, Mario will automatically win and the others will be allowed to go free as per the conditions of this match."

Kevin gritted his teeth and sat back down. Kamek was right. There was nothing he could do except watch the scene unfold. Bowser proceeded to roll off the edge and fall to the ground. Kevin could only watch as his father continued to fall. Time slowed down for the Koopa Prince as his mouth was agape in dread at what was about to unfold. His father was about to be humiliated by Mario once more. The only difference here was that the entire Koopa Kingdom, and probably a good portion of the Mushroom Kingdom, would get to see it live, either attending the fight itself, or watching from their homes. The fall would not be enough to kill him, for he had survived farther falls in the past. The problem would be that he had had the Mario Brothers right where he wanted them, and had been manipulated into allowing them to be released by losing his fight to Mario. It would be his father's greatest humiliation of all time, even worse than the humiliation he suffered in the Glitz Pit. As Bowser was falling, he uncurled himself and prepared a ground pound, beginning to fade away. This sight gave Kevin hope as Bowser began to grin. Just before Bowser was about to hit the ground, which would cement the battle in Mario's favor, the Koopa King became translucent. A few moments later, on the verge of striking the ground and giving Mario the win, the Koopa King vanished entirely.

Bowser reappeared a couple of stories above Mario in the center of the platform. The plumber was not caught unawares, though, and he promptly fled the landing zone of Bowser. The Koopa King came crashing towards the ground and as he struck the ground, the platform began to shake and crack as if the platform was having an earthquake and a red ring of energy spread out from the epicenter of Bowser's landing. Mario had jumped into a back flip the instant before Bowser had landed and, thus, the shaking ground did not affect him. As soon as he touched the ground, Mario jumped again as the red ring of energy nearly cut his feet out from under him. Bowser grimaced as he saw that Mario had suffered no damage at all from the attack. Still, he was not out of options, not by a long shot.

Bowser proceeded to back away from Mario, causing the plumber to tense up. The massive Koopa King then reared back and a ball of flame appeared in his mouth. This prompted Mario to run to his right as Bowser proceeded to unleash a massive stream of flame towards the location where the plumber had been standing moments earlier. The stream of flame, however, failed to find its mark, though Bowser saw Mario running in a large circle out of the corner of his eye. He then swept his flaming breath in the direction of the plumber, not managing to catch up to the human, but preventing him from being able to launch an attack from behind. Eventually, Bowser ran out of breath and he had to cease his attack on Mario as he caught his breath. Unfortunately, this gave Mario a chance to run behind the Koopa King and grab his tail. With a tremendous yank, Mario pulled Bowser off of his feet, causing Bowser to emit a squawk of surprise. Mario then proceeded to spin the Koopa King around and around. As the velocity of Mario's spin increased, the spinning body of Bowser proceeded to rise as well. Eventually, Mario let Bowser fly, saying, "So long King Bowser." Bowser, unfortunately, was hurled directly into one of the spiked bombs, which detonated upon Bowser's meeting with the device.

Upon the bomb's detonation, a massive wave of fire erupted from the bomb, along with a concussion wave that was powerful enough to hurl the Koopa King forty feet into the air, and fortunately back towards the platform. Bowser flipped over and landed on his stomach as he fell back onto the platform. This did him little good, though, as Mario quickly rushed towards him and performed a flying side kick towards his head. The kick made contact with the Koopa King's head and dazed him for a moment as the king was sent skidding backwards a few meters. Bowser grunted. "Man, that hurts," he complained, though he seemed to indicate that it was the bomb's explosion that hurt him more than the ensuing kick. Bowser attempted to stand, but was slow to do so. The explosion had affected him more than he had initially believed, and Mario was quick to take advantage of the situation.

He quickly rushed behind Bowser and attempted to grab his tail once more. Bowser was clearheaded enough to realize that such a strategy would likely be Mario's next move so before the plumber could grab his tail a second time and hurl him into another bomb, he jumped high into the air, just as Mario made his swipe for Bowser's tail. Mario then proceeded to run towards the edge of the platform, knowing that as soon as the Koopa King landed, a massive quake would be produced. Bowser soon descended from the air and immediately upon striking the platform, Mario jumped, so as to avoid the massive earthquake that ensued. Once again, the platform shook under the power of Bowser's landing and a flaming ring spread out from Bowser upon his landing. Mario deftly jumped over the flaming ring as it approached. Upon landing, Mario charged Bowser once more.

As Bowser saw Mario begin to charge him, he backed off a bit and began to spit blue flames towards the human. Blue streaks of flame erupted from Bowser's mouth and approached Mario, forcing him to jump to the side of the flames in order to evade them. As soon as the flames hit the ground, though, they broke off into three smaller flames that skipped along the platform. Mario recognized this attack and quickly noted where the blue fires were and where the directions they were traveling as they split. As the fires were bouncing towards Mario, Bowser charged him and surprised him when he drew back his fist and let fly at the plumber. The Koopa King scored a solid hit on Mario and knocked him off his feet. The plumber was sent tumbling through the air and nearly struck one of the blue flames that was bouncing towards him. However, Mario stuck his hands out and pushed off of them just as the flame was about to hit. Mario flipped over the flame and landed on two feet, skidding backwards a few feet before coming to a stop. As he was recovering, Bowser unleashed a stream of orange flame towards him. Mario moved to the side to avoid it and, just as before, Bowser swept the flame once more towards the plumber. Mario was faster this time, though, or Bowser was slower, and the Koopa King was unable to keep up with his archenemy.

Mario went to run behind Bowser's back once more and grab his tail, but Bowser began to spin faster and faster in his attempt to prevent Mario from managing to grab his tail and hurl him into one of the three remaining spiked bombs. As Mario tightened the circle that he was running, though, Bowser kept increasing the speed of his spin so as to keep up with the plumber. Despite Bowser's ability to keep up with the plumber, though, Mario continued his circle. As Bowser continued to try to keep up with Mario, he was beginning to feel dizzy. That was when he realized Mario's plan and went, "Oh crud." Bowser then stopped the spin but the damage had been done, so to speak. He wobbled around on his two legs for a bit before falling to the ground, dizzy from his spin. Mario then rushed over to the fallen Koopa and grabbed his tail. Just as he did the first time, he began to spin Bowser around and around. As his own spin was increasing in speed, Bowser began to rise into the air. Once Mario had lined him up with a second spiked bomb, he let the Koopa King fly a second time. Bowser flew straight into the spiked bomb, which detonated upon Bowser's impact with it. Again, a massive explosion resulted, which hurled the Koopa King high into the air, and back towards the platform. Bowser landed on the platform with a thud on his stomach once more and groaned as he attempted to rise. Things were looking bad for him. He knew that despite the fact that Mario did not have access to any of his superpowers, he was still a formidable opponent. There were only two mines left, and he was already beginning to feel the strains of the battle. However, he was not out of the fight yet. In fact, the fight was just beginning. He then took out his magic wand and fired it down at the platform's surface. The platform immediately began to rise higher into the sky, out of sight of the rest of the crowds. As the platform rose, two of the airships released several robotic cameras to broadcast the action to several jumbotrons that were located throughout the castle grounds. In addition, several Magikoopas waved their wands and produced a hologram of the platform and of Mario and Bowser, the latter of which stood up and turned to face Mario.

Kevin looked at the hologram and watched as Bowser cautiously backed away from Mario for a few moments. So far, Mario was handling Bowser pretty well in the fight, with Bowser only having gotten one punch in on the hero. Kevin watched as Bowser clutched the wand that the prince had given his father. Kevin knew why Bowser had waited so long to use the wand. He had hoped to defeat Mario without any help from his son. While he, and Kevin, would have told the media and the rest of the kingdom that the wand was built by Bowser, both Bowser and Kevin knew the truth. Bowser did not want to have to rely on a magic wand given to him by Kevin in order to defeat Mario. Still, given how badly Mario was creaming him at the moment, he felt as if he had no choice.

High above the castle, Bowser gripped the wand and its head began to glow. The Koopa King then began to chuckle, "Heh, heh, heh. I must admit I'm impressed. You're just as powerful as I remember, even without any of your superpowers. However, things are different now from what they were in all of our other battles. I don't have the same problem that you do right now. Not anymore!" Bowser grinned menacingly before continuing, "I've had enough screwing around with you! It's time I showed you my true power." He proceeded to give a chilling laugh. "I've been waitin' for this for a long time, Mario. This wand's a special item that's gonna give me power, here, and you're without any of your superpowers, as per your restrictions in the challenge." The Koopa King then showed Mario the magic wand that Kevin had made for him and broke out into an almost maniacal laugh. "You should have limited the use of _my_ superpowers as well!" he cried as he waved his magic wand and activated its power, wishing to transform into the equivalent of Fire Bowser. His normal green shell was immediately replaced with a fiery red shell that matched the color of his hair. In addition, Bowser willed the effects of the Life/Super Mushroom to take effect. Immediately, he grew to twice his normal size, and also gained twice his usual physical strength and durability. "What'da'ya think of this, Mario? This magic wand grants me the same superpowers that you usually possess."

Mario grimaced as Bowser began to approach him. Things just got a lot more complicated, but even with this new development, he was not too concerned. He had beaten Bowser before when he had special powers; he could do so again. Mario did not move and waited for the Koopa King to make the first move.

Bowser pointed his right and left hands towards Mario and proceeded to unleash a volley of fireballs towards the plumber. Mario's eyes went wide with shock and he was caught off guard by Bowser's attack. Three fireballs from Bowser's first barrage scored direct hits on the plumber, knocking him off his feet and to the ground, also setting him ablaze. Despite the pain that Mario was undoubtedly suffering, he did not cry out and merely proceeded to roll on the ground in order to extinguish the flames that were burning him alive. After rolling on the ground for a few seconds, flames were extinguished and Mario rose to face Bowser once more, his body smoking but the plumber was still alive. Bowser intended to change that by waving his wand once more.

The ghostly image of Zess T. soon appeared before Mario, prompting the plumber to go evasive and flee from Bowser, for he knew all too well what was about to happen. A blast of energy erupted from Bowser's wand and targeted Mario. Mario was easily able to evade the blast of energy, but the trouble would be the ensuing explosion. Sure enough, Mario was already running towards the other end of the platform when he was cut off by a stream of Bowser's fire breath. The plumber glanced back at the pulse of energy, which was about to detonate, and he looked away, jumping over Bowser's fire breath as the Zess Dynamite spell exploded. A massive wave of fire erupted from the center of the spell and spread across the platform. The wave of fire and the concussion of the blast washed over Bowser, not affecting the Koopa King in the slightest. Mario, however, knew that the same would not happen for him should the explosion hit him. Mario stood at the edge of the platform, waiting for the explosion to hit, hoping that the damage would be limited. Much to his surprise, the wave of fire suddenly dissipated a few feet away from him. The concussion of the blast was merely a gust of wind that did not even push the plumber backwards. Mario uttered a silent prayer of thanks that the Zess Dynamite did not expand to cover the entire platform. Bowser, however, gave a roar of annoyance. He then attempted to launch another Zess Dynamite but Mario quickly charged Bowser, catching the Koopa King off guard, and punched his wand, pointing it straight up. The Zess Dynamite blast was sent sailing into the sky for a few seconds before it erupted into a massive explosion, far too high to inflict any damage to Bowser's target.

Mario quickly backed away from Bowser as the massive Koopa unleashed another blast of his fire breath, supported by a barrage of fireballs. Mario deftly dodged the fireballs and managed to evade the spreading stream of fire that Bowser had launched against him. He continued to back away from Bowser, who showed no signs of slowing down. Mario, however, was beginning to breathe a little more heavily than before. He knew that he had to do something quickly because Bowser had managed to score some good hits on him and while the magic of the Mushroom Kingdom gave Mario superhuman strength and durability, as well as enhanced speed, he knew that he could only take so much damage before succumbing to his wounds. While the same could also be said of Bowser, the problem was that with that magic wand of his, Bowser would constantly be able to use Mario's own power-ups and use them against the plumber. With a Life Mushroom, that would mean that Bowser could get infinite life energy. He would be nigh unkillable. Bowser was already a difficult enough opponent with only his normal array of powers and skills, especially since Mario was without his own superpowers. With the ability to copy and use Mario's superpowers, he was just that much more dangerous, especially since he could use Mario's superpowers as often as he needed to without fear of running out. Mario had to find a way to end this battle before it dragged on for too much longer and he began to succumb to fatigue. The only way he knew that he would be able to bring this fight to an end with his victory would be to get that wand away from Bowser.

Mario began the next phase of the battle by charging towards Bowser once again. Bowser grinned as Mario came towards him and held out his hands, pointing his fingers towards the plumber. Mario immediately began to go evasive as Bowser unleashed a barrage of fireballs in the plumber's direction. Not being caught off guard this time, Mario was able to evade Bowser's fire and began to run around to Bowser's rear. The Koopa King soon stacked another power on top of his Life/Super Mushroom and Fire Flower power-ups and a massive, brown, furry Tanooki Suit appeared on Bowser. The appearance of a Tanooki Suit astonished Mario. _How many of my powers does he have in that wand_? the plumber wondered. Mario quickly went to grab Bowser's now longer and stronger Tanooki tail, but the Koopa King jumped as the plumber approached and turned into stone statue version of himself in midair. This action prompted Mario to skid to a halt and flee in the opposite direction as the petrified Koopa King came crashing down to the platform. Again, just as Bowser struck the platform, Mario jumped so as to not be knocked off his feet by the resulting earthquake. However, since Bowser had turned into stone, he was unable to unleash a fiery ring of energy upon landing back on the platform. However, the force of the impact was so great that the ground continued to shake even as Mario landed. The shaking ground caused the human to lose his footing and stagger in place, trying to keep himself from falling to the ground.

Immediately upon hitting the ground, Bowser transformed back to normal once more and quickly turned to see the stumbling Mario. He took advantage of Mario's momentary loss of footing to unleash another volley of fireballs towards the plumber. Mario, seeing the fireballs coming, jumped into the air and managed to avoid the first few orbs of fire. However, for the last few, Bowser pointed his hand up into the air, and got lucky. One of the fireballs managed to hit the hero squarely in the chest. Unlike the first strike, though, Mario did not catch fire this time. That gave him little comfort, though, as the force of the fireball's impact and the instant damage done to him forced him backwards, sending him sailing through the air. He landed hard on the platform and skidded close to the edge, emitting a soft groan as he came to a stop. His eyes then went wide in shock and even fear as he immediately went on all fours and bolted from his current position microseconds before a stream of Bowser's flame breath would have reduced the plumber to ashes.

Bowser gave a grunt as Mario skittered away from the his fiery breath. Mario was a lot tougher than he had given him credit for. The large Koopa still grinned, though. He had the clear edge on Mario, and now it was time to use his oldest son's gift to its fullest potential. He reared back and pointed the wand towards Mario and unleashed a blizzard of ice and snow towards the plumber. Mario jumped to one side and allowed the freezing winds and snowflakes to sail past him. However, Bowser was not finished. The Koopa King then used the wand to summon a storm of lightning bolts, each and every one of them targeting Mario. Mario ran around the platform, performing quick jumps and flips, constantly changing directions as searing bolts of electricity rained down from the sky. This was clearly reminiscent of a Thunder Rage, an item that Mario had used against Bowser's minions all too often at the time that the Koopa King had acquired the Star Rod and captured Princess Peach's Castle. Still, despite the speed at which the lightning bolts had traveled, the spell's power had a difficult time zeroing in on Mario, so every time it fired a lightning bolt at Mario, Mario was able to evade it by constantly moving away from his spots in random directions, not allowing the spell to predict where he would run to next.

Bowser roared in protest as the plumber continued to evade his each and every attempt to kill him. Bowser soon added the Penguin Suit's effects to his power set, but the Penguin Suit did not appear over his Tanooki Suit. And Bowser still had another item spell that he could use. Bowser soon waved his wand once more and pointed it at Mario. The head of the wand glowed and suddenly, a torrent of golden shooting stars rained down upon the platform. Mario looked down at the ground to see where the shadows were appearing so he could evade the storm of stars that were targeting him. As soon as each star struck the ground, it promptly shattered, inflicting no damage to the ground, but the plumber knew that the same would not happen should he suffer a hit from any of those stars.

Down below the platform, Kevin and his siblings stood, riveted to their positions, watching the battle above them unfold. Kevin smiled as he saw his father finally take the fight to Mario and begin using all of the powers and abilities of the wand he had made for his father. He had been greatly concerned by Mario's early success in the fight, but now, he was far more reassured of his father's dominance. He was sure that his father would finally kill Mario. While he was surprised at the evasiveness of the human, he did not let that worry him too much. His father had him. Mario was constantly on the run, unable to even consider the possibility of launching any kind of attack on Bowser. All he could do was run and hope that Bowser would run out of energy, which he would not thanks to the Life Mushroom power-up, which could completely refresh him as well should it be necessary. If the Koopa King were smart, he would continue fighting Mario at range, not letting the plumber get in close, which was Mario's only chance given the fact that he had no superpowers to speak of for this fight. With Bowser's own natural abilities, combined with the powers of the wand, there was no way that he should lose. His only real concern was the fact that the Zess Dynamite had not encompassed the entire platform upon its detonation. He shook off the thought, though. He did not need a super attack like that to kill Mario. He was already doing fine with the powers he was currently using right now.

The rest of the audience in the courtyard was riveted to the action, standing on the edges of their seats. They had been quite worried in the earlier stages of the battle, where Mario had the upper hand on their king, wincing each time that Bowser had been hurled into a spiked bomb. However, as the fight went on, they had become much calmer and much more certain of their king's eventual victory. They watched as Mario got in close, evading the remaining stars from the Shooting Star attack that the Koopa King had unleashed on him and attempted grab Bowser by the tail, only to be knocked off his feet by a flick of the Koopa King's Tanooki tail, which struck the human squarely in the chest. The audience cheered at the sight of Mario suffering a direct hit from Bowser. The watched closely as the hero stood up once more, but was beginning to breathe heavily. They saw it. The end was coming. Mario was on his last legs now. That last hit had been critical. Several audience members and guards shouted up to the Koopa King, "You rock, King Koopa!" Others said, "You're the best!" Yet others, "Take that you worthless plumber!"

Lady Bow and Vivian watched with concern from the shadows as Mario was struggling to match Bowser's new power. They looked down at the captives and knew that each and every one of them shared their concerns as well. Some could scarcely believe what they were seeing. Others had a bad feeling all along that this would be the result. Bowser had never been this tough an enemy for Mario before, minus the Star Rod incident. But even then, once Mario got the Star Beam, and later the Peach Beam, he had trounced the Koopa King. In this battle, though, Bowser did not have an item like the Star Rod that made him invincible. If he had, he would have used it already. Instead, all Bowser had was a special magic wand that gave him some of Mario's superpowers and the attacks from certain attack items that he had used in the past. "Come on, Mario," Goombella said quietly, with noticeable concern. "You can do it."

"No he can't," one of the Koopatrols retorted mockingly. "Face it, your hero's gonna die. And after him, then it's gonna be you." He then chuckled and added, "But hey, look at it this way. At least you'll get ta see him again once you die."

Goombella scowled at the guard. "We'll just see about that," she retorted harshly. The other captives echoed Goombella's sentiments with a nod. However, they too were concerned with Mario's performance against Bowser in the later portions of the fight.

Back on the star-shaped platform high above the crowds, Mario quickly recovered from Bowser's tail whip, flipping through the air and landing on two feet. Two balls of ice quickly formed in the Koopa King's hands and he hurled them towards the plumber. Mario evaded the attacks, which bounced along the ground for a few bounces before breaking apart, and ran towards Bowser once again. Bowser laughed. "Again? Try something new, Mario. Oh, that's right. You can't!" That last bit was shouted towards the plumber.

The Koopa then began to swing around and perform another tail whip. Bowser whipped his Tanooki tail around towards the onrushing plumber once again, but this time, Mario jumped above the tail and ground-pounded the tail. Bowser cried out in pain as his tail was crushed by Mario's ground pound. The Tanooki Suit promptly disappeared and Bowser fell to the ground, his shell still fiery red. Mario then charged towards the giant Koopa before he could recover, and grabbed the giant turtle's tail. Mario then began to swing Bowser around, causing the Koopa to rise into the air as Mario's spin increased in speed. Mario then lined up Bowser with one of the two remaining spiked bombs and let him fly towards it. Bowser sailed into the bomb and it detonated upon impact, hurling the Koopa King into the air, turning his shell back to its normal green color, and back onto the platform.

Bowser landed on back on the platform with a thud. He groaned as he attempted to stand and face down Mario once more. Had he seen the crowds below, he would have seen his subjects and the children wince and groan, while Mario's allies all cheered. The Koopa King gripped his wand once more and, pointing it towards the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom sent another blizzard of freezing wind and snow towards Mario. The hero dodged the icy storm of ice and ran to his left. Bowser turned to his right to try to keep the plumber in front of him, but the plumber was able to maneuver behind him. He continued to spin to try to keep up with the plumber, but was unable to do so. Mario then dove for Bowser's tail and managed to grab hold of it. Still, since he had to dive, the Koopa King was able to drag the hero on the ground. That did not stop Mario from giving a tremendous jerk, pulling Bowser off his feet. The Koopa King fell to the ground, roaring in pain and surprise as he hit. Mario then stood up and planted his feet firmly as he began to spin the king around. After about ten revolutions, Mario let Bowser fly towards the final spiked bomb. As with the previous three, Mario's aim was true and Bowser sailed into the spiked bomb. The bomb detonated in a massive blast of fire and sent the Koopa King sailing through the air, and back onto the platform.

Bowser landed on his back and bounced on the ground. He gave a groan as he attempted to move. Kevin saw this via the hologram that was situated on the ground where the platform used to be and kept saying with increasing desperation, "Father, right yourself. Get up."

Try as he might, though, Bowser was unable to get off his back and stand up. He gripped his wand again and began to wave it once more so he could activate a Raccoon or Tanooki power-up, but Mario had other plans. The hero charged towards Bowser's tail and performed a spin attack, striking the tail and the backside of Bowser. This sent Bowser spinning and rocketing towards the edge of the platform. Bowser tried to right himself but it was of no use. He found that his momentum was not slowing, and he resigned himself to the fact that he was about to sail off the edge of the platform. He sighed and readied his wand as he sailed off of the platform.

Mario then headed towards the edge that Bowser had fallen off of, expecting a surprise from the Koopa King, and was not disappointed when Bowser appeared. He was sitting inside a Koopa Clown Car and was rising into the air, maintaining a distance of a few yards away from the platform. He held his wand high in his right hand and looked down at the plumber, laughing. Mario took this opportunity to rush the Clown Car and he jumped towards it just as Bowser pointed his wand at the platform and fired a single bolt of lightning. The bolt of lightning sailed just underneath the plumber as he jumped towards the Clown Car, and struck the star-shaped platform. The bolt of lightning promptly reduced the platform to ashes, which fell back towards the ground, covering many members of the audience. The Magikoopas and Koopalings, however, raised their wands and erected protective barriers over themselves so that they would not be covered by the ashes raining down on them.

Back in the sky, Mario's jump from the platform just before its annihilation took him directly to the Clown Car. The plumber landed on the edge of the top of the Clown Car, spreading his arms out in an attempt to maintain balance on the car. Bowser took this opportunity to point the wand towards Mario and attempt to fire a blast of magic at the plumber and kill him, but the hero grabbed the wand and forced it down towards the Clown Car. A blast of magic was unleashed upon the Clown Car and it burned a hole into the vehicle. The Clown Car immediately plummeted towards the ground, with the audience below holding their collective breaths as the car continued to fall. As the car continued to fall, Bowser attempted to fire another blast of magic towards Mario, but the plumber pulled back his fist and punched the wand with all of his strength, cracking the crystal-like head. Golden energy leaked from the wand as Bowser dropped it to the ground, where it fell and struck, headfirst, and shattered into thousands of pieces, creating an explosion of energy that gouged a twenty-meter hole in the ground.

Back in the falling car, Mario punched Bowser repeatedly in the head. The Koopa King was taking a pummeling as Mario continued to strike him. After a few moments of nonstop punching, he looked past Bowser and saw the ground fast approaching. He proceeded to jump as high as he could as the now deadweight Clown Car fell to the ground and hit, crumpling and deforming as it struck. The Clown Car exploded an instant later, sending the Koopa King flying. Bowser sailed through the air and landed on his back a few meters away from the explosion of the Clown Car. He looked up and found Mario coming down straight towards him, his foot extended as if he were about to perform a kick: his target, Bowser's head.

Kevin stood up at the sight of Mario coming down towards Bowser, preparing to finish the defeated Koopa King, his eyes wide in horror. He glanced back at Kammy, Kamek, and his siblings for a second but saw that they were going to do nothing. Knowing that he had not choice anymore, he charged towards Mario in attempt to intercept him before he managed to strike Bowser and severely injure, if not kill, him. Kamek and Kammy then both rose and yelled after him, "No! Don't do it! If you do, your father will lose the fight!"

Kevin did not care about that right now. His father had already lost to Mario. The rules of the fight did not matter to him anymore. All that mattered was saving his father. To that end, he ran towards his father, drawing his wand. He arrived at his father's side just as Mario was a few feet away and he pointed his wand up at Mario. Goombella and the others saw Kevin charge in to support his father and cried, "Wait! Kevin has intervened in the battle! That means that Mario is automatically the victor!"

The members of the Koopa Troop ignored her cry and went to try to support the prince. As he pointed his wand at Mario, Mario noticed him and, seeing the head of the Koopa Prince's wand glow, realized that a second battle against the Koopa Prince was now unavoidable, pulled out his Metal Cap and Fire Flower. Just as he grabbed his power-ups, Kevin fired a rainbow-colored blast of magical energy that would annihilate the plumber if it hit. The blast streaked towards Mario just as he was about to put his Metal Cap on. The blast then hit the plumber and a there was a massive explosion in the sky.

For a split second, Kevin thought that he had actually managed to kill Mario. He soon learned otherwise as the metal form of Metal Mario descended through the cloud of smoke and landed on Bowser's torso, knocking the wind out of the Koopa King, and likely breaking a few of the Koopa King's ribs in the process. Mario then charged Kevin far faster than the Koopa Prince would have thought possible and punched him, sending the prince flying into a wall not too far away. Kevin collided the wall and fell to the ground, dazed but still alive. The Koopa Prince remained on the ground, leaning against the wall. He then pointed his wand at Mario and fired another blast of magic, this one a blast of lightning. The bolt of lightning struck Metal Mario but inflicted no damage at all to the hero. Kevin grimaced. The Koopa Prince then rose and looked Mario straight in the eyes. "So, this is it. This time, Mario, I won't hold back. I _will_ kill you."

Mario's Metal power-up then wore off and the white shirt and hat, and red overalls of Fire Mario appeared before Kevin. "Neither will I," Mario said in response to Kevin's statement. The second battle between Mario, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, and Kevin Koopa, the Prince of the Koopa Kingdom, had begun.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Kevin pointed his wand towards a series of fallen pieces of rock and fired a blast of magic from his wand. The burst of geometric shapes released by his wand struck the blocks and the series of bricks immediately transformed into Koopa Troopas with yellow shells, twelve in all. Since these Koopa Troopas were merely animated bricks, zombies by any real definition, they did not have the intelligence to retreat into their shells and become invincible to most of the attacks that Mario could launch against them. In addition, they were not enhanced with any speed or strength increases. In essence, they were normal, yellow-shelled Koopa Troopas with no intelligence, programmed to serve at the whims of their creator. They were nothing more than organic robots. They did not even have any weapons to attack the plumber with. Kevin had animated these Koopas as a screen to protect him from Mario's fireballs as he counterattacked the plumber. In that, the Koopas did a fine job. The Koopa Troopas formed ranks in front of Kevin, four Koopas in each line.

Mario proceeded to fire a volley of fireballs towards Kevin and his shield of yellow-shelled Koopa Troopas. The first of the fireballs struck the Koopa Troopas and reduced them to ashes with single hits. However, for each Koopa that fell, the others took up the fallen Koopa's place, allowing Kevin to cast a magic spell. His wand head first glowed orange, then blue, and finally white as he then pointed it towards Mario. Mario danced away from the spot he was occupying just as the prince opened fire with a blast of magical plasma. The entire remaining line of Koopas were instantly incinerated as the blast of plasma burned through them and streaked towards Mario's position. Fortunately, for the plumber, he abandoned his position quickly enough to avoid Kevin's blast. The blast of plasma burned a large furrow into the ground as it traveled, eventually dissipating twenty meters away, after Kevin noticed that neither Mario, nor any of his allies were in the flight path of the blast.

Mario quickly took cover behind a wall as he looked over at Kevin, his wand head still glowing white, ready to fire another powerful blast of plasma. He was surprised that Kevin was going the raw power route, rather than using more precise strikes like the ones he used in their first battle. The Koopa Prince found Mario hiding behind the stone wall that was the border for a stairwell that would take one to the top of the first layer of walls of the castle. The prince fired another plasma blast, towards Mario. He dove behind the wall, barely dodging the plasma blast, as it struck the wall and melted it into lava upon impact. Mario then emerged from cover and took a few potshots at the Koopa Prince, managing to score a lucky hit on him. Kevin grunted as he took the fireball straight to the chest, which forced him to stagger backwards a few steps. Another volley of fireballs soon came from Mario and streaked towards the prince. Kevin quickly raised a shield over himself in order to protect him from the furious assault, but the shield was quickly being worn down by Mario's fireball volley as it sustained repeated blows. With each hit, the shield glowed an electric blue, but it was clear that the shield was suffering significant damage with each hit and the Koopa Prince knew that it would not hold out for long against this onslaught. This forced the Koopa Prince to find cover, himself, so he would not suffer further damage. He quickly dove to the opposite end of the wall, with a second wall separating the two combatants, keeping them from seeing each other from behind the first wall. As Kevin took cover, he said to himself, "Darn, he's tough." He was beginning to see just why Mario was such a dangerous opponent. While Mario's Fire Flower power-up was not his most powerful superpower, it was one of his most dangerous, for the fireballs he was unleashing upon the Koopa Prince were powerful enough to hurt him should he take a hit. Even his father would take damage from direct hits from these fireballs. Kevin soon emerged from cover once more and fired another blast of plasma at Mario, just as Mario emerged from cover and fired another volley of fireballs towards him. When they both saw each other, they fired off their attacks and quickly ducked back behind cover, neither one inflicting any damage to the other.

Meanwhile, over near Bowser, the Koopalings went over to their father and helped flip him over so he could rejoin the fight, the Koopa King moaning as they flipped him over, due to his cracked ribs. After flipping over, Bowser struggled to rise, the pain in his chest making any sort of action a chore. Once he managed to stand, glanced around to see where the fighting was. He saw Kevin and Mario shooting plasma pulses and fireballs at each other from behind cover and noticed that neither one was really making any headway on the other. That was when Bowser, his other children, and a group of Hammer Bros., Boomerang Bros., Fire Bros., and Koopatrols went over to assist Kevin in killing Mario, for despite the pain he was in, he felt that he needed to have a hand in the demise of the Mario Brothers. They were making their way over and about to join Kevin when a series of shooting stars rained down upon Bowser, the Koopalings, and the others. The stars were more than powerful enough to kill the lot of the Hammer Bros., Boomerang Bros., Fire Bros., and Koopatrols, but only did relatively minor damage to the Koopalings and Bowser. Still, Bowser grunted with each hit, which happened to be scored on his chest. As soon as the assault was finished, Bowser and his children went over to try to support Kevin when Vivian and Bow appeared in front of them, cutting them off from the Koopa Prince. "Out of our way, stupid ghosts," the Koopa King commanded authoritatively. "It's Mario we want."

"Not a chance," Bow and Vivian responded in unison. Vivian then twirled her fingers in the air and Bowser and his children erupted into flames. The Fiery Jinx was not powerful enough to kill the Koopalings, but it was strong enough to cause them to stop them from assisting Kevin and force them to face down the two of them. They knew, though, that Bowser and the Koopalings would be too much for them to defeat on their own, but they would not be alone for much longer, for Luigi appeared and jumped on Ludwig, causing the Koopaling to retreat into his shell. Despite the small spikes protruding from the shell, Luigi was able to kick Ludwig towards Bowser, sending him barreling into Bowser Jr., Lemmy, and Roy in the process. The others had to dive out of the way of the oncoming Ludwig. Eventually, the second oldest Koopaling collided with Bowser in his ribcage, knocking the Koopa King off his feet and inflicting even more damage to the broken ribs. Bowser gave loud roar of pain as he was knocked down. Ludwig ricocheted off of Bowser and his momentum slowed. Eventually, he emerged from his shell and turned to face down Luigi, who had come to support Bow and Vivian.

Luigi then turned to the two spirits and told them, "Goombella and the others need your help."

"Got it," Bow answered as she proceeded to head over to the captives, who were about to be executed by the numerous guards that had formed a circle around the allies.

Vivian, however, did not move. "You can't take on the Koopalings _and_ Bowser at the same time," she called back to the green clad plumber. "You'll need my help."

Luigi disagreed. "Bowser's not exactly in pristine condition at the moment," the plumber noted when Bowser managed to stand, despite the pain, and unleash a stream of fire towards Luigi, along with the rest of the Koopalings launching a volley of magical blasts towards him. Wasting no time, Vivian rushed to grab Luigi and pull him in the shadows, barely managing to grab him and pull him in when Bowser's flames and the Koopalings' magical blasts converged on their position. The collision with the ground generated a massive explosion that expanded to about thirty meters in diameter. Even Mario and Kevin had to retreat further into their cover in order to avoid the blast. After the blast had dissipated, Bowser fell to one knee and held his ribcage. He and the others looked on and, seeing nothing, grinned in satisfaction.

"Well, that's one Mario Brother and ally, dead," he commented breathing heavily, as he proceeded rise so he go and assist his oldest son in fighting Mario. As he and his children began to make their way towards Mario, though, Luigi emerged from the shadows, as did Vivian. Their appearance shocked Bowser and the others.

"But, how?" they asked in shock. "The blasts of magic were powerful enough to vaporize the two of you!"

Luigi and Vivian merely gave knowing smiles in reply. They did not want to reveal their secret at this time, despite the fact that Bowser and the Koopalings should have been able to figure out how Luigi and Vivian had survived their attacks. Luigi then reached into his pocket and fingered his Hammer Suit. He then pulled it out and transformed into Hammer Luigi. A black Koopa shell appeared on his back along with a black helmet appearing on his head. Luigi then produced a metal hammer with a black, clawed head and tossed it over to Mario. Mario heard the hammer land near him and he went over and picked it up, knowing that it would be useful against Kevin should he have to engage the Koopa Prince in close combat, despite the fact that that was the one thing he wanted to avoid at all costs. Luigi then looked back at the Koopalings and grinned confidently. He knew he had a power-up that could give him an edge against Bowser. Still, he knew that even with Vivian's help, holding off Bowser _and_ his children would not be a cakewalk.

Over near the platform in the area that was supposed to be an execution arena, Goombella and the other allies of Mario and Luigi were surrounded by countless Koopatrols, Hammer Bros., Boomerang Bros., Fire Bros., and other Koopas. As the Koopas approached, sadistic grins could be seen plastered on their faces. "Heh, heh, heh," they laughed. "They've run out of time and help," the Koopas gloated.

Just as the Koopas were gloating, a torrent of yellow shooting stars fell among the Koopas and wiped them out. Each star that collided with a Koopa practically annihilated the Koopa with single hits. The friends looked over and saw Lady Bow floating by them. "Come on everyone," she cried. "Get out of the chains. We've gotta help Mario, and that was my last Shooting Star."

She first helped out Goombario. Once he was freed, he went over and freed Goombella while Vivian then helped out Kooper. Each ally that was freed soon went over to help another. Bombette and Sushie stayed to guard the others while they went to free the other allies. Sure enough, as the others were being freed, a flood of Koopas and Goombas rushed onto the battlefield. Bombette rushed towards the ranks of Koopas and lit her fuse. As she rushed into their ranks, she detonated in a massive explosion. The blast radius of the explosion was at least twenty meters and she blew a massive hole in the ranks of the Koopas. After a few seconds, she regenerated and reappeared on the battlefield, no worse for the wear. The Koopas did not like the looks of that and hesitated for a few seconds before they continued to charge towards the heroes, prompting Bombette to detonate again and annihilate more Koopas.

Sushie, meanwhile, targeted the Goombas and prepared to launch a Tidal Wave towards them. The tidal wave of water formed in front of the Cheep-Cheep and once it was formed, it was released towards the Goombas. Since they had weak defenses, they were no match for the torrent of water that was approaching. The tidal wave fell upon the Goombas and outright crushed several of the front ranks, while washing the others away from the battlefield, drowning many of them. Just as the Goombas were washed away, the last of Mario's allies were freed and were preparing to join Bombette and Sushie in battle. They soon formed ranks alongside the two fighters and stared down an army of Koopas, Goombas, and Lakitus that were approaching. Goombella soon glanced up into the sky and found the Koopa airships and jet fighters beginning to fly low so they could support the ground troops.

Up in the stands, the rest civilians looked on as Mario engaged Kevin, Luigi and Vivian fought Bowser and the Koopalings, and the rest of Mario's allies readied themselves for a battle against the Koopa Air Force. They knew that a battle, possibly the final battle between Bowser and Mario and his allies, was about to break out below them, so they did their best to flee the arena, and also avoid being drafted into the Koopa Troop. The first to evacuate were the Koopas and Goombas that were close to the exits. They were quickly able to duck away from the scene without anyone noticing as the rest of the guards and other military personnel were focusing on the new battlefield below them. Others that tried to duck away, however, were spotted by some of the guards and were quickly pressed into service at the sight of the first wave of Koopas and Goombas being wiped out by Bombette and Sushie, along with Bowser's elite guards being wiped out by Vivian, Bow, and Luigi. Some of the civilians tried to flee anyway, thinking that they had a better chance of survival trying to evade the guards than they did should they be forced to face the Mario Brothers and their allies. A few of the civilians were able to force their way past the first line of guards but were later shot down by the second and third lines of guards. Guards soon emerged from the exits and herded the civilians towards military commanders and members of Bowser's court in order to be deployed against Goombella and her friends. They felt as if Kevin, Bowser, and the other Koopalings could handle Mario, Luigi, and Vivian. Their primary goal was to keep Goombella and the others from being able to support the Marios and Vivian. To that end, they pressed the civilians in the arena into service, all ten thousand plus of them.

Many of the drafted civilians cried as they were given their orders by Kamek, Kammy and several other members of Bowser's court. Some other still attempted to escape, only to be taken by the Koopatrols that were guarding the exits, or set ablaze by the pairs of Fire Bros. that were assigned to do the same. Only when the civilians were actually entering the fray, did the Koopatrols and Fire Bros. join them on the battlefield. When the Fire Bros. and the Koopatrols eventually went down onto the battlefield, they focused their attention towards Goombella and the others, realizing that they were the largest threat at the moment, since Mario and Luigi were currently engaged with Kevin and Bowser and the other Koopalings respectively.

The Koopas quickly charged towards the line of heroes as Goombella turned and saw the vast number of Koopas approaching. The Goomba quickly called back to the others, "Everyone, we've got problems behind us!"

The others turned and saw the fast approaching small army coming towards them. Kooper and Koops noticed that many of the Koopas were civilians that had been pressed into service rather than normal followers of Bowser. They both looked downcast as that realization hit the others as well. Realizing that she was one of the two allies that could deal with the enemy without killing the civilians in the process, Flurrie stepped forward and proceeded to blow a mighty gust of wind towards the oncoming Koopas known as Gale Force. She blew towards them and the approaching horde was stopped in its tracks. The civilians were immediately blown away from the battlefield and close to the outer walls of the castle. Many collided with the walls and were dazed, though their shells prevented them from suffering any more severe injuries. Upon recovering, many civilians took this opportunity to flee the castle grounds and escape the battle.

The Fire Bros., Hammer Bros., Boomerang Bros., and Koopatrols, however, continued forward, the winds insufficient to halt the advance of most of their ranks. That did not concern the heroes, though, for they had accomplished what they had needed to. Bow soon reappeared and handed items to many of the allies: Thunder Rages, Ice Storms, and even Egg Missiles, Egg Bombs, Coconut Bombs, and a Zess Dynamite. When Bow handed Goombario the Zess Dynamite, he immediately armed it and activated the explosive cake. He tossed it towards the approaching army of Koopas and let it land in their midst as the ghostly image of Zess T. appeared before them. As the cake was flying, the dynamite candles were lit and sparkling. As soon as the cake landed among the enemy, it detonated, engulfing almost one third of the entire attacking force in the blast wave of the explosion. The wave of fire expanded and encompassed many of the Fire Bros., along with several Boomerang Bros., Hammer Bros., and Koopatrols. The blast also sent the bodies of those that were not incinerated by the blast flying towards the others, knocking them down. While the enemy was disoriented, Kooper and Koops retreated into their shells and began to spin. After a few seconds, they launched themselves at the lines of Koopatrols and Hammer Bros. They barreled into the Koopas and knocked them off their feet, continuing on through the entire line. The Koopas had no choice but to try to dive out of the way, and often into one of their comrades, or get plowed over by the onrushing Koopas. More of the enemy forces were either killed or injured in this new attack. Despite the depleting of the enemy Koopa force, though, Goombella and the others knew that they were in for a very long fight as more Koopas, Goombas, and even Lakitus surged towards them from all around the group, many coming through the castle gates. The only good thing was that there were no Magikoopas or Fire Bros. in the picture, so the enemy did not have access to long ranged attacks. Still, Goombella and the others knew that should the reinforcements reach Kevin and Bowser, that Mario, Luigi, and Vivian would not be able to hold against them.

Goombella then rallied the others to her. "To me, everyone. We've got an army coming towards us!"

The others quickly turned towards the sound of her voice. The voice of Lakilester then broke through, asking, "Don't we already have an army to deal with?" He had been busy keeping several waves of Goombas at bay when he heard Goombella's call.

She then pointed to the second approaching enemy force, which looked to be several thousand strong, and Lakilester's eyes went wide. "Oh," he said, his mouth hanging open.

Kooper and Koops looked back and saw the approaching force and they had the same reaction as Lakilester. "We're supposed to hold out against that?" Koops asked, scarcely believing his eyes as more Koopas and Goombas were flooding through the doors and onto the castle grounds.

Goombella nodded. "We have to," she told them. "Mario and Luigi need us to hold out!"

"But without Vivian, I don't know if we can deal with a force like that," Kooper told her.

Goombella looked down somberly for a moment. "I know," she told him. "But we have no choice. This is our only option right now." She then began directing the force. "Okay, Bow, you, Flurrie, and Lakilester get out in front right now. You're the first line of defense. Use your Spook, Gale Force, and Hurricane techniques to scare and blow away as much of the enemy force as possible. Once that's done, Watt, I want you to paralyze as many of the Koopas as possible. Bobbery, toss your Time Bombs among the enemy after the initial attack so that we can take out more of the advancing enemy. After that, everyone else who has a ranged attack or ranged attack item, use it. If we have to retreat a bit, don't worry. We just have to keep them away from Mario and Luigi. If we can do that, we may be able to win this once Mario, Luigi, and Vivian beat Kevin, Bowser, and the Koopalings."

"Right," the rest of the force replied.

Bow, Flurrie, and Lakilester then went to the front of the formation of allies. As the Koopas, Goombas, and Lakitus approached, Bow used her Spook, Flurrie cast her Gale Force, and Lakilester used Hurricane on the enemies. The enemy advance came to a quick halt as they were buffeted not only by hurricane force winds, but also having to stare into the face of a now large and menacing Boo. Many of the Goombas immediately fled from Bow without the need for any assistance from the hurricane force winds being unleashed by Flurrie and Lakilester. Many, however, ran straight into the onrushing ranks of Koopatrols and Hammer Bros. and were run over as a result. Some of the Koopa Troopas, Koopa Paratroopas, were also blown away back towards the castle entrance. Many, however, held their ground and struggled against the hurricane that was unleashed upon them. After a minute or so, Flurrie ran out of breath and Lakilester's Hurricane ran its course. Now, it was time for the second strike.

As Bow, Flurrie, and Lakilester retreated to grab some items with which to make a final stand, Watt floated forward and charged herself up before unleashing a Mega Shock. A wave of electricity was unleashed towards the Koopas as they began to flood towards the heroes once more. As the bolts of lightning emitted from Watt struck them, they were frozen in their tracks, paralyzed, but not killed. Watt then prepared another Mega Shock to unleash against more of the enemy. As she was paralyzing as many of the enemy soldiers as possible, Admiral Bobbery proceeded to produce a trio of small time bombs. He then tossed each of the bombs into the ranks of the enemy. He tossed the first bomb towards the front of the enemy, hoping to give them pause, which he did. After seeing them hesitate, he tossed the other two into the main ranks of the enemy to blow holds in the enemy lines. After a few seconds, the bombs exploded, incinerating several Koopa Troopas, and sending others flying in all directions. Even a few Koopa Paratroopas were taken down by Bobbery's attack.

After seeing the success of the initial attacks, Goombella then cried, "Okay everyone, let 'em have it!"

With that, all of the allies that had items began to use them. Goombella was the first to attack with an Ice Storm that she unleashed towards the onrushing Koopa Troopas. A blizzard of icy winds and snowflakes assaulted the Koopa Troopas and covered them with ice. The blizzard, alone, was enough to freeze them solid and inflict fatal damage to the Koopas, which were now merely frozen statues. Soon after, Yoshi Kid used a Thunder Rage and unleashed it towards a flight group of about forty-eight Lakitus. The Lakitus were caught off guard as Yoshi Kid held up the lightning bolt symbol of the Thunder Rage high into the air and proceeded to unleash a storm of lightning upon the cloud-riding enemies. The lightning bolts struck each and every Lakitu in the flight group, one after the other. The Lakitus' clouds were dispersed by the lightning and those that had not been killed by the lightning strikes, themselves, were likely killed by the subsequent falls. Mr. Mowz followed up Yoshi Kid's attack with one of her own; again, with a Thunder Rage. She targeted the second flight group of the wing of Lakitus that had come under assault. Again, lightning rained down on the Lakitus and dispersed their clouds, oftentimes frying the cloud-riding Koopas to dust before the clouds managed to disperse.

Kooper, Koops, Goombario, and Parakarry were about to unleash their items on the onrushing Koopas that were storming the gates when they soon saw a massive airship appear above them flanked by a dozen jet fighters reminiscent of mid twentieth century Earth jet fighters. The airship was significantly larger than any of the other airships that they had seen before. They quickly figured that this was the flagship of the Koopa Airship Fleet. It looked like a traditional old Earth water naval of the early twentieth vessel, but was huge, being the size of two football fields. Also, unlike the rest of Bowser's airship fleet, this airship was made out of metal and was painted silver. The appearance of the airship darkened the spirits of the heroes, who had been emboldened by their success against the horde of Koopas flooding into the castle. "Great," Goombario muttered. "Not what we needed to see." He then called over to Goombella, alerting, "We've got an attack coming from above!"

Sure enough, as Goombella looked above her, she saw a countless Bob-ombs begin to parachute out of the Koopa airship. The Koopa airship's cannons and Bullet Bill launchers also began to target the heroes and they opened fire on them. Black missiles with menacing scowls erupted from the cannons and began to approach the heroes. Watt floated towards them and unleashed a Mega Shock on the Bullet Bills and parachuting Bob-ombs, shorting them out and causing them to fall to the ground, where they fell among the Koopas that were flooding into the entrance. Goombella then called to the others, "Watt, Parakarry, Bow, you help deal with the airship and its fighter support!" She then handed them some Egg Missiles, Egg Bombs, and Coconut Bombs. "Take these items," she told them. "You'll need them for dealing with that monstrosity up there." Turning to the others, she told them, "The rest of you, focus on those Koopas!"

With that, Watt, Bow, and Parakarry went up to deal with the threat that the airship posed. As they flew into the air, the Koopa flagship fired a series of Bullet Bills and pink lasers at them. Watt used her Mega Shock to unleash a series of lightning bolts upon the Bullet Bills that disabled them, causing them to fall back to the ground, and onto more Koopas and Goombas, gouging more holes into the ranks of the ground attack forces. Four of the Koopa fighters soon launched a series of fireballs disgorged from wing-mounted cannons towards the friends. Parakarry managed to evade the fireballs headed his way and retaliated by firing an Egg Missile towards the lead fighter. The missile homed in on the heat signature of the fighter and flew up its engine, where it exploded and blew apart the rear half of the fighter. The rest of the fighter merely fell back down to the ground, where it crashed and exploded, destroying one of the smaller battlements in the process.

Watt soon went to join Parakarry as more fighters converged on the Koopa Paratroopa with the intent to avenge their fallen comrade. Watt, however, was more than able to take care of them with a single Mega Shock attack. These fighters did not have any protection against lightning strikes, so when her Mega Shock scored hits on the fighters, their systems shorted out and their engines shut down, reducing them to deadweights. The dead fighters then fell the ground, some of them crashing into the makeshift stands that had housed numerous civilian Koopas before they had been pressed into service, and others crashed into some of the smaller guard towers of the castle, destroying them and any of the Koopas that were still inside said towers. As Parakarry joined Bow in heading towards the airship, itself, Watt remained behind to deal with the remaining fighters.

Bow and Parakarry quickly approached the airship. With Watt dealing with the rest of the fighters, Bow and Parakarry had to deal with the incoming fire all on their own. The Bullet Bills would be the hardest to avoid due to the fact that they were guided missiles. Fortunately, Bow had brought along a Thunder Rage, which she promptly used against the missiles, as well as on the airship. The airship, however, was protected from lightning strikes and, as a result, suffered no damage. As they got closer, though, the airship crew stopped using their Bullet Bills and started to use its normal cannons and lasers. The cannonballs and laser beams streaked past the heroes as they approached the massive ship. They knew that the dorsal surface of the ship would be littered with weapons and that it would be heavily armored, so their weapons would be of little use on the hull of the ship. That left the only viable target as three top rotors of the ship. Still, they knew that they would have to deal with the numerous weapons and crewmembers that would likely come out to face them in defense of the ship.

Parakarry was preparing to use an Ice Storm on the crew that came out to meet them when an idea came to his head. He turned to Bow and said, "Hey Bow, I've got an idea!"

"What is it?" the Boo asked.

"I think we've just found our escape ship," the Koopa Paratroopa replied.

Bow did not know what he was thinking at first, but a moment later, she smiled, realizing his plan. The Boo then gave ghoulish grin. "I like where your head's at," she said in a sinister tone. "Let's do it!"

The Koopa Paratroopa and Boo made their way closer to the hull of the ship. As they approached, a large number of Rocky Wrenches, Koopas with gray shells that threw wrenches at intruders popped up out if the interior of the ship, along with several Koopa Troopas and two Magikoopas. Not wanting to risk inflicting any damage to the ship, Parakarry pulled out his Ice Storm and targeted only the Koopas that were coming out to meet them, being careful to avoid any of the rotors or rocket engines. A storm of ice and wind buffeted the Rocky Wrenches, Koopa Troopas, and Magikoopas and froze them solid. After they were frozen, Parakarry and Bow went over and picked up each of the frozen Koopas and threw them overboard to shatter on the ground below. The two soon looked over at Watt, who was coming to them after having dealt with the escorting jet fighters. Once the three of them reunited, they proceeded to make their way inside the ship and deal with the rest of the crew.

Meanwhile, on the ground below, Luigi and Vivian were more than holding their own against Bowser and the Koopalings. Ludwig, Bowser Jr., and Roy had already been rendered unconscious, with Wendy and Iggy showing signs of fatigue and even some minor injury. Bowser was breathing heavily and clutching his side, but he was unwilling to give up just yet. He unleashed his fiery breath towards Luigi and Vivian, but the Shadow Spirit merely pulled the plumber into the shadows, allowing the fire to sail over them and onto a group of Koopa Troopas who were trying to launch a sneak attack on the plumber. Instead, Bowser accidentally reduced them to ashes for their effort. The Koopa King gave a roar as he realized that he had incinerated his own troops, rather than his enemies, and then winced as his movement caused a jolt of pain to shoot throughout his ribcage. Vivian and Luigi emerged from the shadows and the Shadow Spirit smiled at the Koopa King. "Careful, sire," she chided.

This only drove Bowser further into a rage and he charged the two, ignoring the pain of his shattered ribcage and heedless of the fact that Luigi was still wearing his Hammer Suit and that he would be screening his children, essentially making this a two-on-one battle. Vivian could only laugh as Bowser closed in on the two of them. This would be too easy. She quickly produced an Ice Storm and unleashed it upon the Koopa King. Since Bowser was close to being right on top of them, Vivian would not have been able to miss if she had wanted to. The Koopa King took the full brunt of the attack as Luigi ducked out and fired off a volley of hammers at Bowser and the other Koopalings. The first two hammers struck Bowser, one in the left leg, shattering his knee, and one in his left arm as Bowser raised it to cover his head. This was all before the Ice Storm washed over him and froze the Koopa solid. The arm was promptly broken by the hammers. The next two struck Wendy and Iggy and they joined Ludwig, Bowser Jr., and Roy in unconsciousness, leaving only Larry, Lemmy, and Morton still conscious, though the relatively even numbers now made victory seem far less likely, especially now with Bowser having been frozen into a block of ice. With Bowser and two more Koopalings dealt with, Larry, Lemmy, and Morton were beginning to worry about their prospects. They turned to Kevin, who was busy fighting with Mario, and yelled, "Hey Kev, we could really use some help here!"

Meanwhile, during Bow, Parakarry, and Watt's assault on and capture the airship and Luigi and Vivian's battle against Bowser and the other Koopalings, Mario had his hands full with the Crown Prince of the Koopas, Kevin. Still, despite the fact that of all the forces, Kevin was having the most success, he was merely fighting evenly with Mario. Kevin, had quickly closed the distance between himself and Mario, willing to take the damage that Mario's fireballs inflicted on him for the chance to engage Mario in close combat, where he felt he had a definite edge against the plumber. However, the prince soon realized that Mario was a lot more formidable than he had initially believed. Kevin swept his wand at Mario, who parried the attack with the hammer that Luigi had tossed over to him. A loud clang rang out as the two weapons clashed. Kevin took another swing at Mario but the plumber managed to dodge his attack. Mario tried to launch a counterattack, but Kevin managed to dodge his swing. Mario overextended himself and Kevin proceeded to swing his wand at Mario's hammer. He hit the hammer and knocked it out of the plumber's hand, sending it twirling through the air. It landed ten meters away and skidded to a stop. Kevin then performed a side kick that managed to strike the off balance Mario in the chest, sending him flying through the air. While the kick was strong, it was not sufficient to de-power Mario. The plumber landed on his back and rolled to a stop when Kevin pointed his wand towards the fallen plumber. Mario responded by pointing his hand at the Koopa Prince and firing a series of fireballs at him. The Koopa Prince managed to dodge the first few, but Mario kept following the prince's movements. As the prince took aim, Mario fired one last fireball towards him. The orb of fire struck the prince in the chest and sent him reeling backwards. He fell to the ground, but was quick to recover and rose to face Mario once more. He then pointed his fingers towards Mario and unleashed a stream of lightning towards the plumber. However, the plumber was already on the move as soon as he saw the prince raise his hand and when Kevin unleashed his attack, all the lightning struck was a wall behind the plumber. The Koopa Prince then pointed his wand towards the plumber and prepared to launch a powerful fire spell.

Mario backed away a bit more from the prince and was hoping to put enough distance between him and the Koopa Prince when Vivian and Luigi suddenly showed up. Luigi, seeing Kevin power his spell, tossed a few hammers the prince's way to distract him from targeting his brother. As the hammers arced through the air, Kevin raised his left finger and shot them all out of the air with single blasts of lightning. He then targeted the plumbers and released his stream of fire. Vivian quickly pulled Mario into the shadows as Luigi curled into his Hammer Suit's shell. A cone of fire was unleashed by Kevin's wand, which was also augmented by Kevin's own fiery breath. The flames washed over Luigi and he could feel the temperature rise inside his shell. Despite the fact that his shell was strong enough to resist the fireballs of a Venus Fire Trap and a Fire Bro., his shell was struggling to hold against the flames from both Kevin's wand and his fire breath, a technique that the Koopa Prince had not demonstrated to the plumbers before. Still, the shell did manage to hold against the searing flames and after twenty seconds, the attack ceased. Luigi's Hammer Suit shell was smoking, but the plumber inside was unharmed.

Vivian and Mario then emerged from the shadows and Luigi from his shell. The three presented a united front against Kevin, who was soon going to receive his own set of reinforcements. Larry, Lemmy, and Morton soon joined their older brother. Larry came up to Kevin and whined, "That plumber and Shadow Spirit are too strong. Beat them for us, please!"

Kevin suppressed the urge to grumble at the immaturity of his younger siblings. "Stay behind me," he directed. "Unleash covering fire on the trio. Have them…ahhh!" he suddenly cried as several explosions rang out all around him. The explosions sent the Koopalings and the prince flying in all directions. Kevin looked up into the sky and saw one of the Koopa airships descending towards the ground, firing into the ranks of Koopas that were charging towards Mario's allies. He then focused his attention towards the airship and prepared to fire a blast of energy towards it in order to shoot it down. However, in doing so, he took his eyes off the others, who made him pay when he they launched a combination attack on him. Vivian twirled her fingers, a sign of using Fiery Jinx. Immediately, Kevin's robes burst into flames as Mario and Luigi then launched attacks of their own. Kevin used a spell to put out the fire and cure any burns that he suffered, but that left him highly vulnerable to the fireballs and hammers thrown by Mario and Luigi. The first few fireballs and hammers hit the Koopa Prince in the chest and sent him staggering backwards. Eventually, Kevin recovered enough to raise a shield to absorb some of the blows. Kevin then took a few more steps back. He knew that he had lost any edge he may have had, and that the Marios were the ones who held the advantage. He looked around for his siblings and found them to all be unconscious. He grimaced. Larry, Lemmy, and Morton had been knocked out by the airship's attack. He then looked to his right a ways off and saw Bowser, frozen in a block of ice. The prince's heart sank at the sight and his eyes went wide with dread. For a moment, he feared the worst about his father, but he soon used his wand and cast a scanning spell and found his father to still be alive, albeit frozen in a block of ice. He had to be extra careful now. Even though Bowser would not remain frozen forever, while he was frozen, he would be highly vulnerable to being shattered by any attack that managed to hit him. Apparently, the Marios and Vivian were thinking along the same lines, for they immediately headed over to the frozen Koopa King.

"No!" Kevin shouted as he pointed his wand towards them, but he hesitated. He could not take the risk of injuring his father. And with the ship hovering above them, he had the horrible feeling that if he tried anything that the ship would fire on Bowser, killing him if the prince were unable to intercept the enemy fire in time. Even with all of his magic and strength, he was uncertain that he would be able to intercept his the fire from the airship, especially if they used any of its lasers.

The Mario Brothers and Vivian soon took cover behind the frozen form of Bowser and looked up at the airship that was providing covering fire for them, wondering who was in charge of the ship. A volley of laser blasts emerged from several of the ship's broadside cannons and targeted several Koopatrols and Hammer Bros. that were approaching. The laser barrage quickly dealt with the Koopas, forcing them to either take cover or be annihilated, which several of them were. The ship soon lowered itself to the point where it was only ten feet above Bowser. A ventral hatch opened and an anchor was lowered. Watt and Parakarry floated near the anchor as it descended and called down to the trio, telling them, "Grab hold! We'll take you guys up!"

Mario and Luigi promptly grabbed the anchor, as did Vivian. They were about to ascend when Parakarry brought out a gray metallic rope and tied it around the frozen form of Bowser, who was beginning to defrost. "Now we'll have a safety net in our escape," the Paratroopa explained.

The airship then flew over towards Goombella, with the captive Bowser hanging from its bottom. Kevin watched as the hijacked airship took his father towards the sight of battle. He could see that his father was now defrosted, but was in no condition to fight. Kevin rushed towards the airship but knew that he could not risk firing on it, for if it crashed now, it might crush his father. He would have to wait until the crew of the released his father before risking an attack. The ship approached Goombella and the others and quickly lowered itself again to take on the other allies. As it touched down, Kevin saw one of Mario's allies, Watt, use Mega Shock on the approaching force, and his father. This gave Mario's allies the opportunity to file onto the captured airship and flee the scene. Kevin quickly went to go to rescue his father, but was held back by Kamek, Kammy, and several other Koopatrols. "You can't," they insisted, physically restraining the prince.

"They have my father!" Kevin countered. "I can't abandon him to them!"

"They won't kill him, my lord," one of the Koopatrols said. "They'll merely hold him until they are clear of any pursuit. Once they're clear, they'll release him and we can take him back. But if we strike now, they'll most certainly kill him."

Kevin could understand where the Koopatrol was coming from, but he could not help but wonder if the Koopatrol may have been lying on the chance that the Marios would kill Bowser, which would make _him_ the new king, which was something that a great deal of Koopas wanted. Eventually, he decided that he had enough and he summoned his broomstick. Kamek and Kammy prepared to use some restraining spells on the prince, but he turned and fired first with a paralysis spell of his own. The two Magikoopas were frozen in place and Kevin flew towards the airship in an attempt to rescue his father.

As the Koopa Prince flew towards the ship, he saw each of the Mario's allies file onboard the airship, one right after the other. The last to board the ship was Goombella. After she boarded the ship, the ventral hatch closed. He then saw one of the gun ports open and a cannon emerge. What he then saw horrified him, for tied to the front of the cannon was his father. He immediately stopped and waited as the ship began to ascend. Several other Magikoopas, who had come after him to join him in the rescue attempt of his father, also froze at the sight of their king being tied to the business end of a cannon. Just then, Mario and Luigi emerged from the top of the ship. It was then that they delivered their ultimatum in a serious and grim tone, "You will let us leave here and return to the Mushroom Kingdom unmolested and unhindered in any and every way. Once we reach the border of our two lands, we will release your father."

Kevin gritted his teeth at the sight. His father was a captive of the Marios. He looked back at the Magikoopas, who seemed lost on what to do at the moment, and then back at his father. "Do as they say!" he eventually told his son and the others with difficulty.

With that command, the Magikoopas proceeded to back off. Kevin was hesitant to leave, but Goombella's bark of, "Back," and Bowser's stern nod was enough to convince the Koopa Prince to back off a few meters and remain as the captured Koopa airship proceeded to rise and make its way out of the castle.

Once the airship was high enough to clear the castle's battlements, it began to power its rear rotor and ready its rocket engines. As they approached the outer walls of the castle, Mario called over to Kevin and said, "I was wrong earlier. We won't be releasing Bowser once we reach the edge of the kingdom." This statement caused Kevin to rush towards the ship, fearing the worst. However, instead of vaporizing the Koopa King by firing the cannon, Lady Bow appeared next to Bowser and undid the rope, allowing the Koopa King to fall to the top level of the outer battlements. As Bowser fell to the ground, landing on his feet and then falling forward, crying out as he landed on his broken leg. Kevin rushed over to him to make sure that he was okay. As soon as Bowser's eldest son arrived, he went up to his father and checked on his condition. "Father, are you okay?" he asked, full of concern for his father.

"No!" his father struggled to roar. "The Marios are getting away in my flagship!"

Kevin watched as the airship sped away from the castle, using its rocket engines to propel itself at speed far greater than all of the other airships in the fleet. Kevin soon took out a handheld radio and bellowed into it, "My father's free! Get our fighters after the airship!"

Soon, a radio came in over the radio in a worried tone, saying, "Sir, we can't. The fighters stationed at the castle were destroyed in the battle and it'll take twenty minutes for us to scramble more, plus however long it would take for us to intercept the airship, and by that time it'll be well inside the Mushroom Kingdom."

Kevin grimaced. He knew that the Koopas could easily invade the Mushroom Kingdom, but he also knew that with the recent victories, that an invasion of the Mushroom Kingdom would be costly, especially since they now had the former flagship of the Koopa airship fleet. Eventually, Kevin ordered, "Then tell the other airships that are between here and the Mushroom Kingdom to intercept the flagship of the fleet. Tell them that it is to be taken down with extreme prejudice."

"Understood, sir," the voice responded tentatively. Kevin was not holding his breath about the other ships managing to catch the flagship, let alone shoot it down, and recapture Mario. The flagship was the fastest ship in the fleet and exceedingly heavily armored. Most of the cannonballs would bounce off of its hull without inflicting any damage whatsoever to the ship. Realizing that the Marios had escaped his and his father's grasp, he slammed his fist into the ground and cursed, showing the greatest showing of frustration that his father had ever seen, his shock evident on his face. After a few moments, Kevin looked back at his father and gave a soft smile. "At least he didn't manage to kill you," the Koopa Prince eventually said as he went over to his father and gave him a fierce embrace, which only caused his father to grunt in pain. Kevin quickly disengaged himself from his father and looked into his eyes affectionately. "Come, Father," he said. "We have to get you to the medical ward."

Bowser did not know how to respond to this show of affection. For so long, he had been worried that his oldest son would try to take over as King of the Koopa Kingdom. Kevin certainly had the power to do so, as well as the support. In fact, many in the kingdom wished for him to do just that. In addition, despite how often the Koopa Prince had insisted that he did not want to rule before his time, which would only come upon his father's _natural_ death or _voluntary_ abdication, Bowser was still concerned that Kevin actually did have aspirations for the throne. Now of all times, he had the perfect opportunity to take the throne and kill his father should he have wished. Now, though, Bowser could clearly see that his son had been telling him the truth the entire time. All he had wanted was to be a member of the Koopa Royal Family and for his father to see him as a son, rather than as a soldier or as competition. Bowser then returned a strained smile due to the pain he was experiencing, and said, "Don't worry, son. It's not over yet. Once the castle's fixed and we've tallied up our losses and everything, we'll start plotting our next attack on the Mushroom Kingdom. And this time, you'll be a part of the strategy session."

Kevin then smiled sincerely. "Thank you, Father," he replied. With that, the two proceeded to go down and assist the others in taking stock of the damage, and also help with the wounded and with the other Koopalings. There was a lot of work that needed to be done.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Mario, Luigi, and their friends entered the Mushroom Kingdom, crossing the border from the Koopa Kingdom to the Mushroom Kingdom at midday. As they crossed over into the Mushroom Kingdom, they activated their Identify Friend Foe transmitters and set it to a Mushroom Kingdom signal to indicate that they were friendly. Two other airships that looked like smaller versions of the captured Koopa airship and flanked them. They followed the captured airship closely but they did not bring their weapons to bear, nor did they lock onto the "Koopa" airship. Soon, a voice came in over the radio, saying, "This is Airship One of the Toad Brigade. Please identify yourselves immediately."

Mario took the radio and replied, "This is Mario Mario and friends. We're all safe and sound and we have a gift for the Mushroom Kingdom."

After a few moments of awkward silence, the other ship's captain then spoke, "Identity confirmed. Welcome home Mario."

The airships then came up alongside the captured Koopa airship and they escorted the ship to Princess Peach's Castle.

Later that day, Mario was sitting inside guest quarters inside Peach's Castle, reflecting on the events of the last three days. He mostly thought about Kevin Koopa and the more he thought about the young Koopa Prince, the more he realized that the two of them were remarkably similar, in more than just their respective powers. Kevin was not like his father, or the rest of his family for that matter. The prince had demonstrated honor and showed a great deal of courage. There was also a true aura of nobility about the prince that the rest of his family lacked. The main issue, though, was the fact that Kevin was fanatically loyal to his father. He might not have enjoyed kidnapping Peach or using people the way his father would, he would never turn on him, which was a shame since Kevin would not only be a much better king than his father, but he would be far more open to peace negotiations than Bowser would.

Mario then focused back on his battle with Kevin, knowing that his battle with the prince back at the castle would not be their last. It was obvious that Kevin had the edge in hand to hand combat and in other forms of close combat. The two seemed far more even in ranged combat, though. He had been able to hold his own in a ranged battle with Kevin, despite the fact that Kevin had a large array of ranged attacks. However, should Kevin be able to keep Mario away from his superpowers the way he had in their first battle, then chances were that he would likely be able to defeat the plumber. He then thought about how Kevin would almost certainly be analyzing his own second battle with the hero and decided that it would be a good time to undergo some training. He wanted to make sure that when he faced off against Kevin the next time, that he would not be crippled should he be without his superpowers.

Just as he was about to jump off that train of thought, something came to him and suddenly, Mario became concerned once more about the prospect of facing off against Kevin in the future. What if Kevin had been holding back during his second fight with him? Mario thought back to how he had defeated Bowser just before his fight with Kevin, and the fact that Kevin did not use many of the attacks that he had used against him and Luigi in their first battle against the prince. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed as if Kevin _had_ been holding back throughout the battle, allowing it to be even so any victory would seem like it was achieved through dumb luck. The prince _was_ good. Mario quickly realized that he would have to train hard if he wanted to defeat the Koopa Prince in their next meeting, for he figured that the prince would not hold back at all next time.

Mario then rose from his seat and proceeded to make his way over to a bookcase when he heard a knock at the door. He looked over at the door and called, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Peach," the voice of Princess Peach responded from outside the room.

"Come in," Mario called back to her.

The door opened slowly and Princess Peach walked on in. She went over to Mario and, standing next to him, asked, "So, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine," he answered. "I didn't suffer any serious injuries in my fights with Kevin and Bowser."

"Good," Peach said. The two of them then stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Peach continued, "I feel terrible that I wasn't there to help you, and that I was unable to mount a rescue of any kind."

"Don't worry about it," Mario said, trying to reassure her. "I know that you were praying for me."

"But I wanted to do more," Peach countered. "I tried to do more, but Toadsworth and the others said that I would only have made things worse, and in the end, I agreed with them. Maybe they were right, maybe not. One thing I do know is, though, is that I don't want to be a liability to you anymore."

"But you're _not_ a liability," Mario insisted. "You have repeatedly proven your worth in battle. Heck, you even saved _me_ once. Don't sell yourself short, Peach. You are of great value, in more ways than one." He then gave Peach a hug. There, they embraced for a few moments before Mario disengaged himself from her.

"Thank you, Mario," Peach responded. "Still, I feel as if there is more I can do. To that end, I want you to teach me how to fight."

Mario's eyes went wide. "Me?" he stammered. "But I'm a plumber."

"But you also have a black belt in karate," Peach responded.

"Yeah, but I got that a while ago, and I'm only a first degree black belt."

"That's one degree more than me," Peach said. She then grabbed his hands and cupped them in her own. "Please, Mario. I don't want to be a liability anymore. I won't let myself constantly get kidnapped anymore without making Bowser or whoever else takes me pay for it in the process."

Seeing the determination in Peach's eyes, Mario looked down and, after giving a knowing smile, answered, "Okay. I'll teach you."

"When do we start?" Peach asked.

"At your earliest convenience," the plumber answered.

"Is today alright?"

"Sure," Mario answered. He then made preparations for Peach's first lesson. Training began at six o'clock in the evening, just after dinner.

Over near the main tower of Bowser's Castle, Kevin rushed to the Royal Medical Ward in order to get the latest on his father's current condition. The room was luxurious, with a massive bed against the wall in the center of the room, with a large window for the Koopa King to gaze out of. It was painted gray and also had a large sofa for the king to sprawl out on once he was able to move once more. Immediately after the escape of the Mario Brothers and their allies, the first order of business had been to take the injured Bowser to the medical ward so he could be patched up. Not only that, but also all of his children, save for Kevin, had also sustained noticeable injuries during the escape of the Mario Brothers. As he entered the medical ward, he saw his father lying on a massive bed surrounded by doctors. The doctors were still placing bandages and casts on the Koopa King. Larry, Lemmy, and Morton had each sustained significant injuries when the captured airship had fired on them in the final few minutes of the escape. Kevin had gone to check on their conditions first, knowing that they had sustained even greater injuries than his father. The doctors working on them, though, had reassured him that they were out of the woods and were going to make full recoveries. He had then visited with the rest of his siblings, who were being tended to by the other doctors in the ward. So far, they had sustained less severe injuries than Larry, Lemmy, Morton, and their father. After talking with each of them and sending them his best regards, he had made his way towards his father's room.

Upon entering his father's room, he made his way towards one of the doctors and asked, "How is he?"

The lead doctor looked back at him and, seeing that the voice belonged to Kevin, answered, "Your father is out of the woods. He had sustained hypothermia from being frozen by the Ice Storm in the battle. With his other injuries, he was far more vulnerable to the sheer cold of the attack item. He also had frostbite on several of his extremities, but we have since used magic to cure him of that. He still has some cracked ribs, a left arm that was broken in two places, and a shattered knee. Still, even though he is out of the woods, he is still in need of his rest, for his other injuries will take time to heal."

"I understand," Kevin answered. He then looked over at his father, who still seemed to be awake. "May I talk to him?" the prince asked.

The doctor carefully considered the Koopa Prince's request before replying, "Okay, my lord, but make it brief. Your father needs as much rest as he can get."

Kevin nodded and then went over to his father. Once he arrived he gazed into his father's eyes and gave a kind smile. Bowser looked up at his son and his eyes widened with surprise. "Kevin," he said, with not only surprise, but also a hint of joy. "You came to see me."

"Yes, Father," the Koopa Prince replied. "I wanted to see how you were doing."

"Did the doctors tell you already?" the Koopa King grunted in annoyance.

Kevin nodded. "I'm sorry I was not able to do more to help you," he said, bowing.

"Don't worry about it," Bowser said in as kind a voice as he could manage as he winced when trying to touch his son's shoulders. This surprised Kevin greatly, but also caused him to smile. Bowser then continued, "You held your own against Mario when he had access to his superpowers. Heck, you beat him before, when you managed to take them away, and would have killed him had it not been for my stupid order."

Kevin did his best not to blush. Soon, Bowser continued, "Me? I got my tail handed to me on a silver platter in two battles against the plumber in the same week; and that was with your wand that granted me not only access to many of Mario's own superpowers, but also access to several battle items that the Marios have used on occasion. And even with all of that, I still got beaten by a plumber who had two power-ups on him but refused to use them as per _his_ rules." Bowser then grunted again as he had shifted his weight as he was trying to sit up while he had been on his small rant."

"Don't sell yourself short, Father," Kevin said, trying to calm him down. "We all were caught off guard by Mario's request. I even wonder if he and Luigi actually held something back in my first battle against the two of them. And even then, I only won because I was able to take one of their allies who had entered the battle hostage. Had that ally not entered the fight and become a liability for the Marios, who knows how that battle would have turned out."

"Now _you're_ the one selling yourself short," Bowser almost snorted. "I know you've been just as strong as me, if not stronger, for quite some time. Heck, you probably _are_ stronger. You're definitely far more dangerous and have a wider set of skills." Bowser then took a breath and sighed before continuing. "The truth is, Kevin; I've always been scared of your power. I've always feared that you might try to take my throne and get me to abdicate. I know that the army loves you, as do the civilians…"

"No, Father," Kevin said, trying to stop his father from continuing on his line of thought. "You are my father, and my king. I have no wish to take the throne until it is my time. And my time will only come once you die of old age, and nothing but old age."

Bowser gave a strained laugh. "I know that now, son," he said with pride. "The thing is, though, that I did not know that for quite a long time. As it is, though, I know now, that you do view me as a father, rather than as a competitor. It is time for me to treat you as my son, rather than my competitor and potential usurper. As such, once I heal and come up with my next plan to kill Mario and kidnap Princess Peach, you'll be a part of the plan."

Kevin's eyes widened with delight. "Really?" he asked.

Bowser nodded. "Yeah. One thing these recent events have shown is that you are unmatched in skill and possibly even power. Pragmatically, it would be stupid for me to keep you out of the next Peach kidnapping. However, the real reason I want you in on the next plan is because you are my son. And we have been too far apart for far too long."

Bowser then smiled again at his son. His son then bent down and hugged his father, which caused him to wince. Kevin quickly released him, saying, "Sorry, father."

"Don't worry about it," Bowser answered with a smile. "I needed that," he finally admitted. Kevin then spent the rest of the day with his father, keeping him company and listening to the beginnings of his father's next plan.

After night came around and Kevin returned to his room, before he went to bed, he decided to do some more reading on the Super Mario Brothers. He now had personal experience with them and he had decided to write a diary about his battles with them. One thing he was quick to note was the fact that he held the edge against either brother in close combat. It was when the battle went beyond melee range that the two sides were far more equal, though he had to account for the fact that he had held back in his second fight with Mario. He also made note that while Mario seemed to be a little overweight by human standards, he was not weak, or slow by any means. In fact, he was quite fast and exceedingly strong. Whether or not that was due to the magic of Hylia or the fact that all humans were that strong was unknown, though he believed it to be the former, given Peach's lack of physical strength compared to Mario. That was another thing that came to mind. Since Peach and Mario were close friends at the least, and likely boyfriend and girlfriend, he strongly suspected that Mario might actually teach her how to fight since Bowser was still out there and still had his sights set on Peach. A pang of sadness and regret came over Kevin. He bore no ill will towards the princess and knew that if Mario were to be killed that she would be trapped in a loveless marriage with his father.

Kevin then went over to his computer and checked the news. So far, the official line was that three hundred Koopas had been killed in the escape of the Mario Brothers and their allies. Kevin knew that that was a conservative estimate, and that the actual total was likely closer to five hundred, if not one thousand. He grimaced at the news. While his sympathy for Peach's future plight did not leave him, he knew that the destruction of the Mario Brothers was his top priority. Too many Koopas had died in this endless war. And he knew that if nothing changed, that many more would die in the future.

The prince then turned off his computer and set down his books and his diary. He could look over more information on the Marios tomorrow. As he went into his bed and pulled his covers over himself, he began to wonder about the true origins of the Super Mario Brothers. He knew that there were conflicting stories on their origin. At first he shook off the thought, but then, he began to wonder if the true origins of the Super Mario Brothers might make fighting them easier. He could not help but think that learning their true origins might give him a weapon that he could use against them in his next fight. As he went to sleep, he made a note to himself to begin research on the Marios Brothers' true origins after he awakened tomorrow.


End file.
